No mask that Trevor Williams wears can hide his personality. 

Signed in the offseason, his character can shine past anything that covers his face. He’s admittedly mastered the art of the “eye smile” and his sense of humor hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“Good guy, easy to talk to,” David Ross said. “Comes by my office and he throws some one-liners all the time. He’s very loose.”

It showed in his press conference after his 2-inning outing against the Dodgers.

When asked what he’s been working on in the Cubs’ pitching lab during spring training, Williams showed his wit.

“We’ve been working hard on the backfields, swinging the bat,” Williams said. “We’ve had a year of no ABs and that’s one thing that we’ve been really dialing in the last couple of days.”

Jokes aside, Williams had the opportunity to show off his slider that he had been fine tuning against the defending World Series champion Dodgers. Williams has been testing and trying different grips on his slider in the Cubs’ pitching lab in an effort to manipulate hitters.

“By having the lab, it’s one of those where we have the ability to throw 10 sliders or 8 sliders this way, 8 sliders this way and 8 sliders this way and see how it works and how it looks,” Williams said. “Then it goes back to where you’re most comfortable throwing; does it feel good in your hand? Are you able to locate it to the ability of the first one versus the second one versus the third one?”

Because when Williams throws it in the lab, it always looks and feels on point.

“I have a lifetime no-hitter against imaginary hitters in the lab,” Williams joked.

So, the ability for him to be able to go out against a strong Dodgers’ lineup that featured former MVP Mookie Betts, World Series MVP Corey Seager and other regulars from the World Series lineup, was a big opportunity for Williams.

Most importantly, he saw positive results.

Williams finished with 4 strikeouts in his 2 innings of work, with 3 of those strikeouts coming on his slider. That gives him a base as he continues to build toward the regular season and being a part of the Cubs’ rotation. 

“The main thing for me in the first game is comfort level with the slider grip I am familiar with,” Williams said. “We threw a lot of those. We threw a couple today that we’re trying to do new ones with. Some were great, some weren’t. It’s just part of spring training, part of utilizing the lab. I’m sure we’ll go into the lab at some point between now and my next start and fine tune it some more.”