Lookout Landing’s 2025 Prospect Ratings: #15 Ben Williamson

The man can pick it

Welcome back to the prospecting train, y’all. If you missed John’s excellent breakdown of Hunter Cranton, I’d encourage you to go back and read it here. If this happens to be your first time with this series, feel free to check out the rest of our breakdowns here.

When I’ve asked minor leaguers who their favorite teammate was, the most common answer by a landslide has been none other than Ben Williamson. One of seven 2023 draft picks currently in our top twenty, Williamson was a senior sign in the second round and did nothing but produce in his first full season. The infielder doesn’t have quite the shine that the young prep infielders have in prospect circles, but Williamson acts as much needed depth in a system that gets top heavy rather quickly. I’d expect B-Willy to start the season in Tacoma this spring and should have an excellent shot to contribute to the big league club in some sort of utility role later in the season.

Williamson’s defense on the dirt is a tremendous asset. Primarily a third baseman, Williamson has filled in at both shortstop and second at various points of his professional career and features premiere defensive abilities. Williamson is capable of making highlight reel plays at the hot corner and couples quick lateral movements with an above average throwing arm to make difficult plays look routine. At minimum, I’m confident in Williamson’s ability to be a big league contributor solely on his defensive tools. They’re that good.

At the plate, Williamson is aggressive and is looking to spray line drives around the ballpark. It’s not a swing that’s built to put the ball over the fence, though he has been able to hit the ball hard and has some extra base pop. It’s unlikely he’ll ever be a major run producer in the middle of an order, but a contact oriented player towards the top of the lineup is something the Mariners haven’t had consistently for years. Williamson could be exactly that kind of player, acting as somewhat of an antithesis to the recently reacquired Austin Shenton.

Williamson isn’t an elite athlete and is around an average runner at his best, however he’s a skill over tools guy that will end up being greater than the sum of his parts. Some may posit there’s some room for offensive regression thanks to a relatively high BABIP, however his hitting style and approach lend itself to higher than usual batted ball luck and shouldn’t crater as much as you might think. Having turned 24 in November, Williamson has progressed quickly through the system thus far and will certainly be in consideration for a big league look this coming season. It wouldn’t shock me if Williamson ultimately wound up being a similar kind of player to last year’s third baseman Josh Rojas, an excellent defender that is contact oriented at the plate, though the optimist in me sees some more upside in the profile if it all comes together. Obviously Rojas’ tenure with the Mariners ended somewhat unceremoniously, so let’s hope Williamson can carve out a better role than his predecessor.