As a little boy, Trevor Williams loved everything about going to the ballpark with his dad — the bright lights, the smell of popcorn, the crack of the bat, the larger-than-life players.
Now as a father, Trevor hopes to pass that love of the game on to his four children. But his kids experience game day a little differently than the average fan. They eat their hotdogs in the players’ clubhouse, watch batting practice from the field and cheer on their father as he pitches from the mound for the Washington Nationals. “If I was my son’s age and I knew that was happening to me, I would have lost my mind,” he said.
But more than passing on a love for baseball, he strives to impart the love of God to his family and everyone he meets. “Don’t see me as Trevor the baseball player,” he said. “I’m Trevor the Catholic man that wants to build up heaven.”
Williams was born and raised in San Diego, and played baseball from Little League to high school before pitching for three years at Arizona State University in Tempe. Originally drafted by the Miami Marlins, he pitched his first major league game for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played for five seasons there, then moved to the Chicago Cubs, followed by the New York Mets before landing in Washington this season with a two-year contract. He and his family live in McLean where they are parishioners of St. John the Beloved Church.
The 31-year-old pitcher stands at 6’3”, with shoulder-length brown hair and a beard. Along with the red Nationals logo, he wears his faith on his sleeve, specifically the tattoo sleeves that cover his arms. Each tells the story of his devotion to a different saint — St. Michael, St. Joseph and St. Benedict of Nursia, to name a few.
Trevor was raised Catholic, but attending youth group as a teen challenged him to embrace his faith. “I had one specific mentor tell me, ‘Look, every decision you make is either going to destroy the kingdom of heaven or build it up, so if this is going to be the most important thing in your life, prove it,’ ” he said. “I fell in love with the Eucharist, fell in love with adoration, fell in love with Christ and his church. It was something that I longed for my entire life and I didn’t know I longed for it until it came to me.”
He met his wife, Jackie, when he was a senior in high school. “She sang at our church and I always thought she was way older than me,” he said. “I had this celebrity crush on her my entire life (and) it turns out she was only a year older than me.” They dated throughout college and married shortly afterward.
In addition to homeschooling their children, Jackie and Trevor also serve on the board of a charity close to their hearts — Project 34. In college, Trevor roomed with a friend from his travel baseball days, Cory Hahn. During one of the first games of Hahn’s college career, he slid into second base and broke his neck, paralyzing him. Hahn graduated from college and now works as the coordinator of professional scouting for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“Because I’ve had this opportunity to play in Major League Baseball and he’s in baseball as well, he felt that we needed to do something and help the spinal cord injury community,” said Trevor. Along with other college friends, the men formed Project 34, an homage to the number Hahn wore in college. The charity provides grants for electric wheelchairs, home improvements, rehabilitation and anything else someone with a spinal cord injury might need. “Thankfully we’ve had a lot of support from teams and from players and people from all over the world,” he said.
Trevor’s MLB career has brought awareness to Project 34 and his Catholic faith. During the baseball season, he often attends Mass in the press conference room of Nationals Park, thanks to Catholic Athletes for Christ, an Alexandria-based organization that helps professional baseball players, football players, other athletes, sports employees and their families attend Mass and stay connected to their faith.
“I’m so thankful that the ministry is around so I don’t have to go to 6 a.m. Mass on Sundays,” said Trevor with a laugh. “It’s fun to see the Catholic Church alive outside of the church, to see people celebrate Mass at a baseball stadium.”
Over the years, Trevor has found that playing ball and practicing the faith both require daily dedication. “If I took time off from baseball for four or five days, or even just one day, and I came back and tried to perform at my highest level, it would be awful,” he said. “If you want to make it the most important thing in your life, you have to do the work. I have specific things that I need to do as a baseball player to be a better teammate, a better pitcher, to be stronger, to be sharper on the mound, to know what pitches to throw. I carry that over to, how do I want to be a better husband? How do I want to be a better father? How do I want to be a better Catholic? It starts with a holy five minutes and you’ve got to go from there.”
His faith helps him keep his job in perspective. “The more that we understand that baseball is not the most important thing in the world, the more free you are playing, the more free you are in your interactions with your teammates,” he said. “That has helped me tremendously just because in the grand scheme of things, when we die hopefully in a state of grace and we go up and St. Peter is looking at you, (will he say) ‘What was your ERA (earned run average) in 2023?’ He’s not going to ask you that,” he said. He paused before adding, “I hope he doesn’t.”
