Alika Williams

Alexander "Alika" David Williams (born March 12, 1999) is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career
Williams attended Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego, California, where he played baseball. As a sophomore, he batted .402 with 22 runs batted in (RBIs). For his high school career, he had a .374 batting average. He was selected by the New York Yankees in the 32nd round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft but did not sign and instead enrolled at Arizona State University to play college baseball.

In 2018, as a freshman for the Arizona State Sun Devils, Williams appeared in 55 games (making 54 starts), batting .280 with 20 RBIs. As a sophomore in 2019, he hit .333 with four home runs, 53 RBIs, and nine stolen bases over 57 games. In 2018 and 2019, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Bourne Braves. During the summer of 2019, he also played for the United States collegiate national baseball team. During his junior year in 2020, Williams batted .250 with one home run and eight RBIs over 17 games before the college baseball season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays selected Williams with the 37th overall pick in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Rays on June 18 for $1.85 million. He did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the pandemic.

Williams made his professional debut in 2021 with the Charleston RiverDogs of the Low-A East. He was promoted to the Bowling Green Hot Rods of the High-A East in mid-August. After 13 games with Bowling Green, he was promoted to the Durham Bulls of the Triple-A East, but was reassigned back to Bowling Green shortly after. Over 73 games between the three clubs, Williams slashed .267/.312/.375 with five home runs and 46 RBIs. He returned to Bowling Green to open the 2022 season.

Pittsburgh Pirates
On June 2, 2023, the Rays traded Williams to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Robert Stephenson. In 36 games for the Triple–A Indianapolis Indians, he batted .305/.384/.531 with seven home runs and 20 RBI. On July 25, Williams was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. He notched his first career hit and RBI with a fifth inning single in a 7–6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on July 29. Williams hit .198/.270/.248 across 46 games with the Pirates in 2023, while being lauded for his defense at shortstop.

Williams was named to the Pirates' 2024 Opening Day roster as a backup middle infielder.