William Joseph Pecota (born February 16, 1960 in Redwood City, CA) is a former Major League Baseball infielder.

Pecota was a pinch-hitter and utility player known as a slick defensive wiz who spent most of his nine year career playing for the Kansas City Royals. Bill was traded to the New York Mets in the deal that sent Bret Saberhagen to New York. After a season with the Mets he signed with the Atlanta Braves, where he spent his final two seasons as the team's top pinch hitter.

Some have mentioned his Forrest Gump-like career in which he hit back-to-back home runs with Bo Jackson. He gave up a cycle as a pitcher. He is one of a small number of players to appear in every possible role on a baseball field: all nine positions, as a pinch-hitter, as a pinch-runner and as a designated hitter. He did it without the benefit of a "stunt" game in which he would have played all positions. Finally, he was honored by Nate Silver when the legendary stats guru named his baseball projection sabermetrics system "PECOTA".

Bill accomplished the rare feat of getting his first major league RBI before his first major league hit. On September 22, 1986 in his sixth plate appearance, he drove in Jim Sundberg with a sacrifice fly. On September 25, he doubled off Frank Viola for his first major league hit.

See the spoof of Bo Jackson's commercials in the "Pecota Knows" video.

(excerpted from Baseball Almanac, MLB, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)