It has not been the prettiest start to the season for New York Yankees closer Devin Williams. After getting pulled during the ninth inning in his last outing against the Tigers, things started to repeat themselves against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.
Yankees’ Devin Williams looked better after multiple bad outings
Coming in to protect a four-run lead, he walked the leadoff batter before allowing a double to give the Giants runners in scoring position with nobody out. It seemed like a bad case of Deja Vu for Williams, and the Yankee Stadium crowd was audibly getting antsy.
However, from there on, Williams looked like the All-Star that they traded for in the offseason. He struck out the next two batters and got Heliot Ramos to ground out to end the game and secure the win for the Yankees. Williams’ nasty changeup came into full effect, generating a lot of swings and misses.
Williams is trying to figure things out after a rather rough start to the season. He has allowed four earned runs in four innings pitched, which is already more than his total from last season. Despite his struggles, manager Aaron Boone is not concerned long-term.
“He’s our closer,” Boone said earlier this week, via Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post. “… He’s going to get through this.”
The Yankees want Williams to be the All-Star that he was in the past
The Yankees acquired Williams from the Milwaukee Brewers in the offseason to give their bullpen a lockdown relief pitcher after the Clay Holmes debacle from last season. Williams has long established himself as one of the top closers in the game.
Luke Weaver was strong as the closer during the stretch run and the playoffs, and he has repeated that same success as the setup man behind Williams. Fans have called for Weaver to reprise his role as closer, but as Boone indicated, they are not making an early-season closing change.
The hope is that his recent string of rough outings is just a bad slump that he will soon escape. The weather conditions have also not been the most favorable, with most of their games being played in rainy, cold weather, which could have an impact on his stuff.
Nevertheless, Williams seemed to finally get a feel for his pitches on Saturday, and he will hope to look more like his All-Star self going forward.