In 1987, Matt Williams first stepped into the big leagues representing the Golden City, or the San Francisco Giants. Until 1996, he played at third base with the Giants, eventually moving to Cleveland for a year. And finally retired with the Diamondbacks in 2003 with a long list of accolades including five All-Star appearances, four Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, and a World Series Championship in 2001.

Almost eight years after retiring from baseball, the successful California-born third baseman returned to the Diamondbacks as their coach. Since then, he’s traveled to various Major League teams in different capacities – coaching or managerial. Finally, in 2022, he arrived in San Diego as their third base coach. But a recent health development for Williams has left Petco in shock and fear.

A life-threatening diagnosis for the San Diego Padres third-base coach leaves the team in shock

Now, after the San Diego Padres take on the Colorado Rockies on the first day of MLB 2023, and following the conclusion of Opening Day traditions, Williams will part ways with the team after his recent diagnosis of colon cancer, as confirmed by skipper Bob Melvin.

While discussing his diagnosis with the media, Matt Williams spoke about his plan to get rid of the tumor from his body. He said, “I don’t have any symptoms, I don’t have any issues. At this point, it’s important now to get it out of there. That’s the plan for Friday, and we’ll see how it goes from there. They’ll test, and they’ll do all the pathology and all of that at that point. But the initial scans were positive in that on the initial CT scan, they didn’t see any spread anywhere else. That’s a good thing. We’ll see where it goes from there.”

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Padres skipper Bob Melvin spoke about Williams being the toughest person he’s ever met: “He might be the toughest guy that I’ve ever come across in baseball. I know in particular that he’s going to give this the fiercest fight of his life, and he’s going to beat it.”

The world of MLB comes together to pray for Matt Williams’ speedy recovery

Putting aside rivalries, the entire world of MLB filled the internet with prayers for the Giants’ Hall of Famer, with hopes for his speedy recovery. This is what the internet said:

With multiple injuries surrounding the San Diego Padres ahead of opening day, missing Matt Williams through the start of the season will be another major miss. Will they be able to come back strong despite these setbacks? What do you think?

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