How Johnston's Peyton Williams became known as 'Iowa Meat Truck' of Minor League Baseball

Dave Williams remembers settling in to watch a Minor League Baseball game his son Peyton Williams was playing in last season when the young slugger crushed one of his typically long home runs.As Peyton rounded the bases, the Johnston native pushed the palm of his hand downward, pretending to honk a horn.The announcer is going on and on about Oh, hes honking the choo, choo train hes the big train coming around the track, Dave Williams recalled.

And Im like ...

Hes honking the horn, hes honking the horn, the Iowa Meat Truck horn.With that, a new nickname was born.

Peyton Williams, who honors a family friends Iowa business with every extra-base hit, hopes to have more chances to bring attention to it as he tries to clobber his way through the minor leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays.

He's already a social-media star known as The Iowa Meat Truck.Its kind of funny how viral it is because I see it pop up on my Twitter and Instagram quite often, Williams said.

I just think its funny every time just because everyone is having fun with it.

Everyone likes it, has fun with it, so I enjoy it as well.Williams becomes a power hitter in high school and collegeWillimas always had the build of a prototypical power hitter, with great strength and size.

Growing up, he was usually six inches taller than most of his classmates.

He said his parents have pictures of him as a 10-year-old hovering over the other kids.The thing is, Williams kept growing.

By his freshman year of high school, Williams checked in around 6-foot-5.

When he got to college, hed grown about two more inches.

It never seemed to end.Every time someone sees me nowadays, theyre always like, Did he get taller? Williams said.

Everyone just always thinks Im still growing.The size worked to his advantage with Williams, who had a direct approach when it came to hitting.

Dave would sit in the stands at all of his games, yelling "swing hard" during every plate appearance.It became a mantra for the father and son.

Peyton tapped into his power, clobbering doubles when he was in Little League.

But as he got bigger and older, the doubles turned into home runs.

A lot of home runs.Williams had become such a prolific power hitter by the time he was 14, he outgrew his USSSA field.

The high school field wasnt challenging, either.Williams landed on varsity as a freshman and became one of the best hitters in Johnston High School history.

He capped off his senior season by smacking a state-high 16 home runs and hitting .473 with 17 doubles.Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller heard about Williams when the high school star was just a freshman.

Heller was in awe of his power and how far he could hit the ball to all parts of the field.He wasnt just a dead-pull, all-or-nothing guy, Heller said.

He did a really nice job of hitting the ball the other way.

In fact, in high school, especially these last two years, I bet he didnt see five fastballs on the inner half of the plate and he just hit home runs to the opposite field because thats where people pitched him.The power carried over to college, where Williams became one of the Hawkeyes' most dangerous hitters, tallying 36 doubles and 21 homers across three seasons.

His success caught the attention of the Blue Jays, who selected him in the seventh round of the 2022 draft.

Williams produced, hitting two home runs and three doubles in 28 games in Single-A in 2022.

The following season, he smashed 14 home runs and 14 doubles across three levels.

Williams' success made him one of the best young players in the organization, with MLB Pipeline placing him among the team's Top 25 prospects in the system.The reason? That power, a result of his big frame and his approach.

Williams had the words "Swing hard" tattooed on his arm, making that an emphasis every time he came to the plate.

It frequently translated into hard-hit balls.A big thing I have is how hard I can hit the ball, said Williams, a first baseman/designated hitter.Williams becomes known as The Iowa Meat TruckWilliams had just wrapped up his second season of professional baseball when he was meeting with the staff from the Vancouver Canadians, the High-A affiliate of the Blue Jays.

Williams was wearing an Iowa Meat Truck shirt, with the business logo and a picture of a cow.The Iowa Meat Truck was a business started by Brad Lilienthal in 2020 to supply customers with premium meat if they didn't have connections to farmers.

Jason Curry, who lives in Williams' neighborhood in Johnston, bought into it later that year.

Curry hooked up Williams' dad with some of the business' swag including shirts and hats.

When Williams walked into the meeting with the staff from Vancouver at the end of the season, they raved about the shirt, especially the team's manager, Brant Lavalle.

They encouraged Williams to lean into the idea of becoming The Iowa Meat Truck.The coaches loves that one, Williams said.

They just said, Youve got to honk a horn anytime you hit a double or a home run.And thats exactly what the 6-foot-5, 255-pound Williams started doing.

At first, the celebration drew some confusion.

But when Williams explained to broadcasters what it stemmed from, a nickname was born: The Iowa Meat Truck.

It quickly caught on with coaches and teammates.Williams continued hitting the long ball and was labeled with the nickname by broadcasters throughout the minors.

A few fans have asked him to sign autographs with the nickname.

His home runs and the nickname made him a star on Instagram, YouTube and Twitter/X."It's super cool," Curry said.

"He's the greatest kid in the greatest family.

We want nothing but the best for him.

So we're trying to support him however we can."That means hooking up Williams with some Iowa Meat Truck swag even though the business has taken a backseat to a new venture Curry and Lilienthal started.

While the Iowa Meat Truck business still exists, it's not their primary focus.

But because of Williams, it has gotten some extra interest locally.

Lilienthal said they may partner with Williams to design a new shirt to sell, with proceeds going to charity."We're just supporting him with t-shirts at this point," Lilienthal said.

The business might not be growing at the moment, but the nickname is still a big hit.

Williams still honks the horn with every extra-base hit, a move that's become his trademark in the minor leagues.

The hope is that he'll be doing it in the major leagues at some point.Despite a slow start to the season in Double-A, there are still high hopes that he can make it to the big leagues.

Heller believes Williams has what it takes to play at the highest level.

A wrist injury has limited some of his power during his minor-league career.

"The consistency is going to be what gives him his opportunity," Heller said.

"And I know he can do it.

It's just whether or not he can get himself in a groove or himself to a place where he's driving the ball and driving in runs consistently."Regardless of what happens, Williams understands he'll always be known as The Iowa Meat Truck.

And that's fine with him."I'm sure it doesn't matter how much I want it to or don't want it to, I think it's going to (stick) no matter what," Williams said.

"It's already at that point where no matter how long I play, it's going to be there."Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008.

He's the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year.

Reach him at [email protected] or 515-284-8468This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Johnston's Peyton Williams known as the Iowa Meat Truck of MiLB.

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