The Disaster That Is Devin Williams Was Utterly Predictable

 

Yankee Stadium. Photo by Jason Schott.

In the future the Yankees have to remember "don't bring in a player known for choking against the Mets."

Of course, I'm alluding to Devin Williams, the closer whom the Yankees acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers, known mostly for giving up the game winning home run to Pete Alonso in last fall's Wild Card Series.

It didn't matter that he had 36 sayes the year before, and 14 last year after he returned from injury in late July, but that moment was the main reference point for many in New York.

Of course, the Yankees should have known that Williams racked up these saves in a division they feast on, the Central.

Williams' first month with the Yankees has been nothing short of a disaster. In 10 appearances, only two of them have been clean innings.

Otherwise, they have been more of the variety of when he gave up four run in the ninth inning to Tampa Bay last Saturday, leading to a 10-8 Rays win.

That was his last appearance before Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays, when he entered the ninth inning with the Yankees ahead 2-1.

George Springer opened the inning by lining one into left field.

Andres Gimenez was up next, and after Williams fell behind 2-0, it was a 2-2 when Williams hit him with a pitch in the hip.

At that point, Mark Leiter Jr. was already warming in the Yankee bullpen. Yeah, that really speaks to confidence in your closer, who you threw away your 50-year tradition on "no beards" to accommodate.

Then, Alejandro Kirk crushed one to right-center field that landed on the warning track.

That brought home Springer and Gimenez to put the Jays up, 4-3.

Now, to be fair to Disaster Devin Williams, this one was only half his fault.

For some reason, the crack Yankees coaching staff had center field Trent Grisham playing ridiculously shallow, so the image you saw of the hit was him running in vain for Kirk's hit.

That was all for Williams - who faced his mandatory minimum three batters - and Leiter Jr. entered for Addison Barger, who fisted one the other way to left field that dunked in, and Kirk raced in to make it 4-2 Toronto.

That closed the book on Williams, whose line was 0 innings, 2 hits, 3 runs (all earned), 1 hit-by-pitch. He took the loss to fall to 0-2, and his ERA jumped to 11.25. By some magical trick of official scoring, it was his first blown save of the season. (for example, how was last Saturday in Tampa Bay not a blown save?)

Disaster Devin Williams is the face of the 2025 season, one that is off to a chaotic start (doesn't matter they're 15-11 because their schedule has been cake) that feels as far away from what we expect of Yankee baseball as any before, except for maybe 1990.