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UCF's Andrew Williamson should get birthday gift for the ages in MLB draft - UCF outfielder Andrew Williamson is a top prospect for the upcoming MLB draft.
- Williamson hit .322 with 16 home runs and 48 RBIs for the Knights this past season.
- His uncle, Sean Rodriguez, played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball.
Andrew Williamson will get exactly what he has always wanted for his 21st birthday.
The St.
Petersburg native is set to celebrate with family and friends on July 11 at a watch party for this weekend's MLB draft.
Williamson, a 6-foot, 175-pound junior outfielder, is virtually a lock to be picked among the first four rounds with an outside shot of becoming the first UCF baseball player chosen in the first round since 2004.
ESPN ranks Williamson as its No.
50 overall draft-eligible prospect, while MLB Pipeline has him 52nd.
He started 152 of 160 appearances for UCF during its first three seasons in the Big 12 Conference.
This past spring, he hit .322 with a career-high 16 home runs, 13 doubles, 48 RBIs, 58 runs scored and eight stolen bases.
"Obviously, he'll go down as one of those elite guys in our program," Knights coach Rich Wallace said.
"He's a dynamic player on and off the field.
He immersed himself into our family.
He's elite in every category you would want a student-athlete to be." Williamson started playing baseball when he was 3 years old, trying to imitate the swing and smile of former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier.
He and his brother would transform their bedroom into a locker room, hanging equipment off bungee cords.
"My dad built a dugout in our garage out of wood with steps and railing," Williamson said.
"I dont know if they loved (the bedroom), but I don't remember them being mad about it." Baseball runs in the family.
Williamson's uncle, Sean Rodriguez, played parts of 13 seasons in the majors with the Los Angeles Angels, Tampa Bay Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins.
Williamson caught the attention of scouts with an MVP-caliber summer in the wood-bat Cal Ripken League following the 2024 season.
The next offseason, he slashed .265/.393/.510 in 15 Cape Cod League games, further boosting his stock.
And he arguably saved his best UCF performances for last, earning all-tournament honors at the Auburn Regional.
He swatted three home runs in the Knights' win over North Carolina State, the eighth player in program history to accomplish the feat in a single game.
Williamson jumped all over the first fastball he saw that night, then he clobbered an off-speed pitch 445 feet over the bleachers in the fifth inning and smoked a breaking ball for a line-drive homer to close the scoring in the seventh.
"He was true to who he was as a hitter first and foremost, aggressive.
But he was aggressive with a plan," Wallace said.
"He took his 150 or so games of college baseball and used them to learn.
He fine-tuned what he was seeing." MLB Pipeline likens Williamson, at the plate, to former big-league outfielder Nate McLouth and Alek Thomas, a second-round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2018.
Wallace compared his build to that of a cornerback in football, a major reason why he is able to generate so much bat speed.
Some scouts told MLB Pipeline about slight concern for his hit tool due to "a little hitch in his swing at the start, with a drop in his hands and a barrel tilt that can affect his timing." Asked about his natural swing mechanics, Williamson said, "The whole move in general just happens.
I know that I need to be on time with it and try to see the pitch and put the barrel on it." Defensively, he's been deployed in the corner outfield the last two seasons, but he has the versatility and enough arm to get a look in center field as well.
In the early stages of the evaluation process, however, Wallace said the first question often asked pertains to Williamson's character.
That's a department in which there should be no worries whatsoever, he said.
"There's not enough boxes to check or thumbs-up to give about the competitiveness, the character, the work ethic," Wallace said.