Will Rhymes '05 Article
Dave Johnson has written a terrific article about Will Rhymes...one of the best baseball players I've ever seen at W&M. He was a bundle of energy
100% of the time and it's great to see him doing so well in the Dodger front office.
If you haven't seen it, read below.
Tribe Scribe: William & Mary Alum Will Rhymes '05 Helps Dodgers to World Series Crown
By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
Julio Urias' four-seam fastball caught the inside corner for strike three, and the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their first World Series championship since 1988. It set off bedlam, both on the neutral field in Arlington, Texas, and at the Dodgers' spring training facility in Phoenix.
Will Rhymes '05, L.A.'s director of player development, stayed back at the office with a dozen or so colleagues for instructional league. With the final out, safety guidelines in mind, they had their own celebration.
"We went crazy," said Rhymes, a former William & Mary infielder from 2002-05. "I had some celebrations as a player, and the celebrations as a staff member are equally crazy. There was some beverages flowing and beer showers.
"It was a real proud moment for us to see (pitcher) Tony Gonsolin start the game and to see Victor (Gonzalez) get the win and Julio get the save. They're all guys who came through our system, and it was a really special moment for us. We were happy to share it together."
Rhymes came to the Dodgers as a scout and worked his way up the ranks, first as assistant farm director and then, in March of 2019, director of player development. That followed a 10-year professional career in which he played 1,052 games in the Minors and 130 in the Major Leagues.
Before that, he was an All-CAA second baseman at William & Mary, where he had a career batting average of .352 - sixth in program history when he left. Neither he nor his twin brother, Jon, was highly recruited out of Lamar High in Houston. Yet both found a home at W&M.
"My goal was to have baseball get me into a school that was maybe better than I could get into on my own," Rhymes said. "I'm sure there was a little bit of help from (then coach) Jim Farr. He came to see us, I think it was in Florida, and he was aggressive from day one.
"He got me up to the campus and I called my dad the night I was there and said, 'This is where I want to be.' It was a great decision, and I've always credited William & Mary with a lot of what's happened."
Rhymes' best season came as a senior when he hit .413 and stole 22 bases in 25 attempts. Fifteen years after graduation, he remains in W&M's all-time top 15 in eight categories - batting average (.352), hits (221), triples (11), stolen bases (43), stolen base percentage (.768), runs (145), sacrifice flies (10) and assists (412).
Rhymes was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 27th round of the 2005 MLB Draft. He played the equivalent of six seasons in the minors before making his Major League debut on July 25, 2010.
After an 0-for-7 start, Rhymes got his first MLB hit on July 27 off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher James Shields. He had to wait a while for his first home run, but at least it was memorable.
It came on Sept. 20, 2010, as Tigers were home against the Kansas City Royals and reigning Cy Young winner Zack Greinke. In his fourth at-bat that day - and the 164th of his young career - Rhymes got ahold of a Greinke fastball and sent it to deep right field.
At first, the ball appeared to hit the top of the wall, and Rhymes ended up at third with what would have been his first career triple. But after a review, the umpires ruled the ball had hit the railing. Rhymes had his first home run, which gave the Tigers a 6-5 lead they would hold.
"We had the replay in the dugout, so we knew it was a homer immediately," Rhymes said. "The best part was after the game, there was a bottle of Dom Perignon in my locker from (Tigers third baseman) Brandon Inge. He was like, 'It's really cold because we've been waiting a long time for you to hit a homer.'"
In 54 games with Detroit, 47 of which he started, Rhymes batted .304. He began the '11 season as the Tigers starting second baseman but ended up batting .235 in 29 games. He spent most of the season with Detroit's Class-AAA affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, where he hit .306.
Rhymes signed with the Rays in 2012 and played in 47 games (36 starts). He spent the '13 and '14 seasons with the Washington Nationals' organization and retired a year later at the age of 31.
One thing Rhymes knew about his next chapter: He wanted to stay in the game.
"I felt like I had a Ph.D. in baseball and anything else that I went into wouldn't be utilizing the skillset I developed organically over time," he said. "I had some encouragement from some great executives I had come across.
"I took a pro scouting gig (with L.A.) and did that for two years. Then they put me into the assistant (farm) director role and the next year the director's role. We have great people here, and to be able to run our system, which is kind of looked at as the model system in professional baseball, I'm really proud."
In terms of winning percentage, the Dodgers (.717) had their best regular-season record in franchise history. And while the 60-game season should put an asterisk beside individual stats like batting average and ERA, in no way does it dampen what L.A. accomplished.
"We had a historically good team," Rhymes said. "The fact that we still prevailed in a shorter season with more volatility, and you still ended up at the end of the season with arguably the two best teams playing each other, it definitely was a legitimate year in our eyes."
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