Major League Baseball: Williamson, Stransky ink MiLB contracts, get right back to work
Longview Pipeline – R.A. Long alum Jadon Williamson, and Justin Stransky are the latest LCC Red Devils to join pro ranks
Jordan Nailon and Rick McCorkle for Blast Zone Media / blastzonenews@gmail.com
Major League Baseball scouts found a seam of talent running through Cowlitz County once again this year. That tradition continued this summer with the selection of former R.A. Long High School ace Jadon Williamson in the MLB Draft, along with the powerful half of the starting battery during their time together at Lower Columbia College, catcher Justin Stransky.
The 61st Major League Baseball Amateur Draft was held July 13-14 in Atlanta. It featured the selection of 615 players spanning 20 rounds. In the 11th round with the 318th pick, the Miami Marlins selected the right-handed Williamson (6’5”, 215 lbs), who’d recently wrapped up his senior campaign at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho.
Williamson, who will be 23 years old when the calendar flips to September, appeared in 22 games during his L-C State career. As a senior, Williamson was named the Cascade Collegiate Conference Co-Pitcher of the Year with Tim Williams of Oregon Tech. Williamson was spotless, compiling a 5-0 record with a conference-best 2.47 earned run average and a 0.98 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched). Over 58 innings, Williamson scattered 44 hits, struck out a CCC-best 86 batters and walked 13.
In a 6-4 win over Eastern Oregon on March 8, Williamson whiffed 15 batters and allowed six hits over seven innings. He also fanned 14 batters in a 6-3 win over College of Idaho, and had 11 strikeouts in a 10-5 triumph over Bushnell.
Williamson is the 141st Lewis-Clark State Warrior to be drafted in the program's history. He is the second Warrior taken in the last two seasons after Drake George was selected in the 13th round of the 2024 Draft by the San Francisco Giants.
Fans of the Red Devils will recall that Williamson was the hometown hero for LCC back in the 2023 season when he was named Tournament MVP while helping LCC pick up its 15th NWAC Championship. He went 2-0 in the tournament, winning the opening game in a multiple inning relief effort. Williamson then shouldered the bulk of the burden on the way to a 5-3 victory over Tacoma in the title tilt, striking out 14 batters over 8 2/3 innings of work, while allowing just one earned run.
“He loves the big moment. He’s not afraid. He pitches with no fear,” LCC head coach Kurt Lupinski said. “When you talk about competitiveness, he’s got it.”
Williamson’s dominant return was a remarkable final chapter as a Red Devil under any circumstance. But when you stop to consider that he had spent much of his red-shirt sophomore season on the academically ineligible list, Williamson’s performance on the biggest stage becomes increasingly inconceivable.
“He sometimes had to learn the hard way and sometimes people are like that… but he’s a guy who found a way to respond,” Lupinski noted. “Baseball is the ultimate game to have to respond to failure and not let your past define you.”
Indeed, Williamson has dedicated himself to the weight room (and improved in the classroom) since graduating from R.A. Long in 2020. The transformation is obvious to those who remember his profile from his days at The Lumberyard. And so, it was no surprise to Lupinski when he crossed paths with Williamson in the Red Devils weight room less than 24-hours after the Marlins had called his name and made a childhood dream come true.
“He had the frame but he came in (at Lower Columbia) a very tall and skinny guy who did not throw 95,” Lupinsky said. “His ability to push himself in the weight room to new limits… it was really amazing… He’s a physical beast now.”
A notoriously explosive fastball, a hard slider, and a “power fade” changeup from a three-quarters arm slot have proved to be an effective combination for Williamson so far. In addition to his seasons for LC State and LCC, Williamson also pitched the 2022 summer for the Cowlitz Black Bears in the West Coast Collegiate League.
And after all that, Williamson still remembered his formative years pitching for Lower Columbia Baseball Club on the American Legion circuit, and his days out at Roy Morse Park playing for Longview Babe Ruth, and his first games back at John Null Park playing for Western along with the rest of the Longview boys. He was tall, he was skinny, and he had all the potential. He was having fun, and trying to figure it all out.
“I played for Dave Gomez. He’s a big reason I’ve become the pitcher I am. And Mark Hulings too,” Williamson said. “And Jeray Key in basketball; he pushed me to a limit I’d never even known before with the championship runs… and that wasn’t even my sport.”
Williamson signed his contract with the Marlins on July 22 for $100,000, and was assigned to the Florida Coast League Marlins to begin his journey in pro ball. And he’s ready to keep on pushing to see how far his arm can take him.
“The real work starts now. I’ve got to earn my pay check.”
Editor’s Note: Jeff Bailey, a Kelso High School alum, was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the second round of the 1997 draft. Bailey went on to play three MLB seasons, and played affiliated pro ball through 2011.
Starting Battery
Like Williamson, Justin Stransky delivered for the Red Devils in their NWAC Championship run during his sophomore campaign in 2023. He was an All-NWAC Tournament selection behind the dish, and posted two hits to go with a run batted in during the aforementioned title game victory over Tacoma.
But while Williamson was subject to the ups and downs and extended off time of a pitcher trying to find his place, Stransky (6’1”, 180 lbs) was a cornerstone of the LCC lineup day in and day out for two straight seasons.
After wrapping his senior season at Fresno State this spring (.316 BA, 12 HR, 45 RBIs), Stransky was selected in the 10th round (301st pick) by the Chicago Cubs. Set to turn 23 in September, Stransky signed with the Cubs for $140,000, and is awaiting his first minor league assignment.
A graduate of Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup, Stransky wound up on LCC’s radar by chance at a recruiting event. He wound up anchoring the Red Devils as they added another banner to the Wall of Champions, and also excelled for the Wenatchee AppleSox and the Ridgefield Raptors in the West Coast League.
“He was actually really under-recruited,” Lupinski said. “We saw the arm strength. We saw the wiry athlete… but no one was on this guy, and really he was a football recruit.”
But once Stransky got on the LCC campus, it didn’t take long for him to find his place behind the dish on the diamond at Story Field. Carrying a big stick and hitting around .300 while only striking out sporadically certainly helped to become a mainstay in the lineup, but he also learned to love the craft of catching.
“He really excelled at the skill acquisition piece. His learning curve was so steep. It was crazy,” Lupinski said. “He commanded the field with a massive defensive presence.”
According to the Chicago Cubs experts over at Northside Baseball, it seems likely Stransky will continue to don the tools of ignorance as a professional ballplayer:
“Stransky is a much-needed addition to the Cubs’ catching farm, because it is currently quite thin outside of Moises Ballesteros. Over his last two seasons, he hit .302 across 103 games. The 10th round is a great time to take a college catcher with offensive upside. Unlike some of the top drafted catchers, Stransky should actually remain a catcher throughout his career.”
Playing for Money
Since the 1990’s more than 30 Lower Columbia College baseball players have been selected in the MLB draft. That feat has grown even more difficult in recent years with a drastic reduction in the number of rounds in the draft.
“It always helps when you have great players and they come through, and then these guys like coming back and training here and they're a part of our family,” Lupinski said.
Of course, Bud Black and Rick Sweet have managed to carry the Red Devils’ torch all the way to the Major Leagues, and there are other LCC alum still toiling away in the minor leagues in an effort to reach The Show.
Tyson Guerrero, a W.F. West alum out of Chehalis, was picked by the Kansas City Royals in the 2021 MLB Draft. Guerrero played for LCC in 2020, and also pitched for WSU and UW, along with a stint with the Cowlitz Black Bears in the West Coast League in 2021. He was promoted to AAA Omaha this spring and went 1-2 with a 5.91 ERA in three starts before being placed on the full-season injured list with what is believed to be an elbow injury.
Dakota Hawkins, another W.F. West alum, is currently pitching for the Brooklyn Cyclones (High A) in the New York Mets organization. He pitched for the Red Devils in 2019-20, and also played for the Victoria HarbourCats of the WCL in the summer of 2019. Hawkins signed with the Mets as an undrafted free agent in 2023.
Hawkins has pitched at the AAA, AA, and A levels this season. He currently has a record of 3-1 with a 1.65 ERA and 37 strikeouts over 17 appearances (32.2 innings).
“You have programs who talk about player development,” Lupinski noted. “As a coach, the pride comes from, ‘Whoa, look at what you can develop into if you’re willing to really, truly work.”
Cowlitz Black Bear Drafted
The Cowlitz Black Bears had at least one more reason to celebrate in their final campaign in Longview when a trio of former players were selected in the MLB Draft.
Outfielder Austin Smith was selected in the 10th round by the Toronto Blue Jays. Catcher Caleb Weber by the Miami Marlins, and catcher Grant Jay was selected in the 12th round by the Seattle Mariners. Pitcher Reed Moring was picked in the 15th round by the Minnesota Twins
