Devin Williams is back where he began this season for the American League East leading Yankees.
Opening as the Yankees’ closer, the reliever lost the job on April 27 after being hit hard his first 10 games in pinstripes, including giving up 10 earned runs in eight innings. Williams had a 11.25 ERA and opposing batters posted a .462 average against him.
The Yankees, which were 37-22 prior to hosting the Cleveland Guardians last night in Game 2 of a three-game series in the Bronx, acquired the 30-year-old righty in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers last December.
“Being a closer is a position you have to earn and you have to keep earning it. Lately I haven’t been doing that,” Williams said in late April at the time of his demotion.
He was replaced by Luke Weaver, who was the Yankees’ closer to end the 2024 regular season and playoffs. But on Tuesday the Yankees announced that Weaver had been placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained left hamstring and could be out four-to-six weeks.
So now Williams gets another chance. Becoming the setup man for Weaver provided some relief (no pun again) for him. Williams’ ERA in May improved to 4.22, still poor but evidence of progress nonetheless. His pitching approach of throwing more off-speed pitches than power pitches better served him during that period. Those pitches must be set up by throwing fastballs which create a variation of speed, disrupting timing for hitters. It’s less stressful to do this in the eighth inning than in the ninth when there’s typically less margin for error.
Williams, one of the best closers in baseball over the past several seasons before his tough month of April, is nicknamed “Airbender,” coming from his knee buckling changeup with a high spin rate and deceptive movement. He pitched only 22 games last season with the Brewers due to a back injury and gave up a game-winning, three-run homer to Mets first baseman Pete Alonso in the ninth inning of a National League Wild Card Game with the Mets down 2-0. It ended the Brewers season and the Mets moved on to the NLDS. The crushing outing seemingly carried over for Williams at the outset of this season.
Taking the mound on Tuesday, Williams was unsteady, allowing a one-out double by Guardians first baseman Carlos Santana and a pinch-hit RBI single by Daniel Schneemann before getting catcher Bo Naylor to fly out. Heading into last night, Williams was 2-2 with six saves, seven holds and one blown save in 26 appearances. In 22.2 innings pitched, he had 29 strikeouts and 12 walks and surrendered 16 earned runs.
Tuesday saw the return of Yankees starting third baseman Jazz Chisholm, who had missed 28 games with a strained right oblique. He had a positive comeback, hitting a tie-breaking solo homer in the seventh to put the Yankees up 2-1, helping starter Carlos Rodon (8-3) to his seventh-straight win.
The Yankees will play the Boston Red Sox at home tomorrow through Sunday and then face the Kansas City Royals on the road next Tuesday through Thursday.