What is Matt Williams's Net Worth and Salary?
Matt Williams is a professional baseball coach and former manager and third baseman who has a net worth of $20 million. Matt Williams currently serves as the third-base coach for MLB's San Francisco Giants. Previously, he coached the San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics, and Arizona Diamondbacks, and managed the Washington Nationals. During his playing career, which lasted from 1987 to 2003, Williams won four Gold Glove Awards, four Silver Slugger Awards, and the 2001 World Series.
Early Life and Education
Matt Williams was born on November 28, 1965 in Bishop, California. As a teenager, he attended Carson High School in Nevada, where he played both baseball and football. Williams went on to play college baseball at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During his three seasons with the UNLV Rebels from 1984 to 1986, he hit 58 home runs and recorded 217 RBI with a .327 batting average.
Professional Playing Career
In the 1986 MLB draft, Williams was chosen in the first round with the third overall pick by the San Francisco Giants. For his first few seasons with the team, he played both shortstop and third base. In 1990, Williams became the Giants' starting third baseman; he proceeded to have his breakout season by leading the National League in RBI, with 122, and subsequently winning his first Silver Slugger Award. The following year, he won his first Gold Glove Award. Williams won both of those awards again in both 1993 and 1994. In the latter year, which saw a truncated season due to the MLB strike, Williams led the National League in home runs, with 43.
Williams was traded to the Cleveland Indians after the 1996 season. In his sole season with the team in 1997, he won his fourth career Silver Slugger Award and his fourth career Gold Glove Award as the Indians reached the World Series. Ultimately, the team lost the tournament to the Florida Marlins in seven games. In 1998, Williams joined the Arizona Diamondbacks for the team's inaugural season. He played with the team for six seasons through 2003. Williams had one of his best seasons in 1999, when he established the Diamondbacks franchise record for most RBI in a single season, with 142. A couple of years later, he won the 2001 World Series with the Diamondbacks by defeating the New York Yankees in seven games.
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Coaching and Managing
In 2010, Williams returned to the Diamondbacks to become the team's first-base coach. The next season, he served as the third-base coach. In 2014, Williams became the manager of the Washington Nationals, and proceeded to lead the team to a division title and a playoff berth. The Nationals made it to the 2014 NLDS, where they were defeated by the Giants. For 2014, Williams was named NL Manager of the Year. He remained with the Nationals for one more season, but was fired in early October of 2015 after the team failed to make the playoffs.
In 2016, Williams returned to his coaching position with the Diamondbacks. He next served as the third-base coach for the Oakland Athletics from 2018 to 2019. After that, from 2020 to 2021, Williams managed the KBO League's Kia Tigers in South Korea. Returning to the United States and the MLB, he served as the third-base coach for the San Diego Padres from 2022 to 2023. In 2024, Williams became the new third-base coach for his former team the Giants.
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Alleged Steroid Use
In 2007, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Williams had purchased over $11,000 worth of steroids and other drugs in 2002. He later claimed that he used the drugs on the advice of a doctor to treat an ankle injury. A month after the San Francisco Chronicle report, Williams was named in the Mitchell Report as one of the dozens of MLB players who allegedly used steroids.
Personal Life
Williams married his first wife, Tracie, in 1989. They had three children before getting divorced. Williams wed his second wife, actress Michelle Johnson, in 1999; they divorced in 2002. He subsequently married television news anchor Erika Monroe Williams, with whom he had a daughter. The couple divorced in 2023 after 20 years of marriage.
Real Estate
In 2005 Matt paid $1.75 million for a 2-acre plot of land in Paradise Valley, Arizona. In 2009 he completed construction on a 15,000-square-foot, European-style mansion with 7 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. He listed this home for sale in February 2018 for $9.5 million. He ultimately sold it for $6.505 million in August 2021. Here is a video tour:
