Jerome Williams has no reason to be in awe of all the big-name, high-priced players around him in the Los Angeles Angels clubhouse.

After all, 10 years ago when he broke into the majors his locker was next to that of Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants had just gone to the World Series.

And, lest we forget, the right-hander from Waipahu was a first-round pick himself, in 1999.

But the question remains. In all your years of baseball, have you ever seen a talent anything like Mike Trout?

"No," Williams replied Thursday, speaking by phone between starts and before batting practice from Kansas City. "Not at all. And, plus, he’s a good kid."

A couple of hours later Trout had hit another home run and stolen another base and the Angels held on to beat the Royals 5-4. It’s their fifth victory in a row.

Trout, the 2012 American League Rookie of the Year, has so far staved off the sophomore slump. The homer and stolen base were his 10th of each.

And as Trout has heated up in May (it was his eighth homer of the month), so has Williams. Relegated to the bullpen since last season, Williams joined the rotation when Jered Weaver went to the disabled list in early May.

Williams has been the team’s most effective pitcher, whether from the bullpen or as a starter. He’s 3-1 with a 2.53 ERA in 12 appearances. He pitched eight innings of six-hit ball in beating Seattle in his last start Tuesday. The Angels won 12-0 as Trout hit for the cycle.

"The key for me has always been keeping the ball down," Williams said. "On Tuesday I had 13 ground-ball outs. The sinker was good."

The Angels were 11-19 before Williams’ first start. They’ve only picked up one game on .500 since. They’d still be floundering without his three quality starts despite the lineup that also includes MVPs Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, who, coincidentally, was the first pick in that 1999 draft.

Williams shrugged off the notion that he is a catalyst to the recent improvement.

"Everybody’s just doing their job," he said. "Last year we started slow, too. We made a push, but unfortunately we came up a little short. We know that we can turn things around."

He’s scheduled to start Sunday against the Royals. Most reports indicate manager Mike Scioscia will keep him in the rotation when Weaver returns, which will likely be next week. Williams said he’s ready for any role.

He’s developed into a utility pitcher. Williams credits pitching in Taiwan, where pitch counts are a foreign subject, in strengthening his arm and making him adaptable. He even offered to pitch up to two innings the day after allowing one unearned run in six innings of the Angels’ 19-inning 10-8 loss to the A’s on April 30.

Mostly, Williams wants to win and prove doubters of the Angels’ chemistry wrong. Even with the winning streak they’re still 10 games behind the first-place Rangers in the American League West.

"A lot of people bad-mouth this team," he said. "But we’re not even worried about that. We’ll wait and see where we are in the fall."

Reach Dave Reardon at reardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.