Matthew Derrick Williams (born November 28, 1965), nicknamed "Matt the Bat" and "the Big Marine", is an American professional baseball manager and former third baseman. A right-handed batter, Williams played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, and Arizona Diamondbacks. He managed the Washington Nationals from 2014 to 2015, and was the third base coach for the San Diego Padres from 2022 to 2023 and the San Francisco Giants from 2024 to 2025.
Williams is currently the manager of the San Francisco Firebells of the WPBL (Women's Professional Baseball League), a position he has held since 2026.
Williams played in a World Series for each of the teams he played for (1989 with the Giants, 1997 with the Indians, and 2001 with the Diamondbacks in which he won over the New York Yankees). During these years, Williams became the only player to hit at least one World Series home run for three different Major League baseball teams. During his career, Williams had an overall batting average of .268, with 378 home runs and 1,218 runs batted in (RBI). He scored 997 Major League runs, and he accumulated 1,878 hits, 338 doubles, and 35 triples, while playing in 1,866 regular-season games.
Williams originally was selected by the New York Mets in the 27th round (664th overall) of the 1983 Major League Baseball draft from Carson High School in Carson City, Nevada, but he did not sign with the Mets. Williams was the starting quarterback on the Carson Senators football team in high school. Two of his teammates who played baseball in high school, Bob Ayrault and Charlie Kerfeld, also played baseball in the major leagues. During his senior year, Williams was named Nevada's high school player of the year.
Williams accepted a scholarship to play college baseball for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Williams played for the UNLV Rebels for three seasons between 1984 and 1986. In that time, he hit 58 home runs, tallied 217 RBI and had a batting average of .327. He was inducted into the school's athletics hall of fame in 1997.
Williams was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the first round (third overall) of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft. He made his professional debut that season, batting .240 with 14 doubles, four triples, eight home runs and 39 RBI in 72 games with the Low-A Everett Giants and Single-A Clinton Giants.
San Francisco Giants (1987–1996)
Williams was called to the majors for the first time on April 11, 1987, serving as an injury replacement for José Uribe. That day, he appeared in his first MLB game, going 1-for-3 in a 5–1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Williams' first major league hit was an eighth-inning single off Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser. He finished the season batting .188 with eight home runs and 21 RBI in 84 games. In the field, he primarily played shortstop while also playing some games at third base.
Prior to the 1989 season, Williams was named as the starting third baseman for the Giants. However, he struggled to begin the season with a .130 batting average, and was optioned to the Triple-A Phoenix Firebirds after the Giants' game on May 1. Williams considered this demotion as a turning point in his career, as he batted .320 with 26 home runs and 61 RBI in 76 games before returning to San Francisco in July. In 84 games with the Giants, Williams hit .202, but managed to record 18 home runs and 50 RBI.
Williams enjoyed a breakout season in 1990, finishing with a .277 average, 33 home runs and a National League-leading 122 RBI en route to making the National League All-Star team.
Despite suffering from several leg injuries and some lower-back ailments, Williams was an excellent fielder at third base, and a dangerous and productive hitter. As a third baseman, Williams had good reflexes and excellent hands, with a quick release and strong, accurate arm. During his career, he earned four Gold Glove Awards, all between 1991 and 1997.
A hitter with exceptional power, Williams hit at least 30 home runs and recorded at least 90 RBI in four of his seasons with the Giants. His best season was 1994 when he hit a National League-best 43 home runs and had 96 RBI in only 112 games as the Major League Baseball season was shortened by nearly one-third because of a season-ending strike by Major League baseball players. He was on pace to challenge the single season home run record of 61, at the time held by Roger Maris, with his 43 home runs in 115 games, projecting to 60.6 home runs at season's end. Williams finished second in the voting for the National League Most Valuable Player Award that year behind first baseman Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros.
On November 13, 1996, Williams was traded to the Cleveland Indians along with a player to be named later (Trenidad Hubbard) in exchange for future NL MVP Jeff Kent, Julián Tavárez, José Vizcaíno and another player to be named later (Joe Roa).
In 1997, while Williams' streak of three straight All-Star selections ended, he still managed to hit .263 with 32 home runs and 105 RBI in 151 games. He also won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award for the first time since 1994. In the 1997 postseason, Williams hit .288 with three doubles, two home runs, 8 RBI and 13 walks, helping lead Cleveland to its second American League pennant in three years. The Indians ultimately lost the World Series in seven games to the Florida Marlins.
Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–2003)
After his divorce from his first wife Tracie, Williams requested and was granted a trade to the Arizona Diamondbacks to be closer to his children. The trade sent Williams to Arizona in exchange for Travis Fryman, Tom Martin and cash considerations. Williams signed a five-year, $45 million extension with the Diamondbacks after the acquisition was completed. He was a member of the first Diamondbacks team during the club's inaugural season in 1998. He shares the Diamondbacks record for the most RBI in one season with a total of 142 during 1999; the record was tied by Luis Gonzalez in 2001, but has never been exceeded.
Williams was a partial owner of the Diamondbacks, and carried the title of "Special Assistant to the General Partner". Williams occasionally also served as color commentator during Diamondbacks radio and television broadcasts, and also assisted in coaching and with player personnel matters.