Devin Williams

Devin Terran Williams

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 3", Weight 165 lb.
High School Hazelwood West High School
Debut August 7, 2019

Born September 21, 1994 in St. Louis, MO USA

Biographical Information[edit]

Devin Williams won the 2020 National League Rookie of the Year Award and also won the Trevor Hoffman Award as the best relief pitcher in the National League. Incredibly, he was not even the closer for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2020: that was the job of Josh Hader. But he did so well in a set-up role, putting up an ERA of 0.33 in 27 innings, allowing just 8 hits and striking out 53 against 9 walks, that he cleaned up when it came time to mete out postseason hardware. He went 4-1 and did not have a save. The low number of innings was a result of the season being shortened to 60 games by the Coronavirus pandemic, and they were barely double the amount he pitched over the last two months of the 2019 season after making his debut on August 7th. He did not appear in the postseason either year.

In 2021, he had his first complete season in the majors and while he was not as unhittable as in his rookie year, he still did quite well, as he went 8-2, 2.50 in 58 games. He picked up his first 3 career saves, and struck out 87 batters in 54 innings. The Brewers returned to the postseason for a fourth straight year, but when Devin joined in the celebrations in the team's clubhouse on September 26th, he broke his pitching hand, resulting in his being unavailable for the next few weeks. He apparently punched a wall after imbibing too much. He did not immediately realize the extent of the injury but when he felt discomfort trying to throw a couple of days later, he underwent x-rays, which led to his having surgery immediately. There was still an outside chance for him to be back if the Brewers went very deep in the postseason, but it wasn't to be, as his absence was one of the factors in their loss to the Atlanta Braves at the Division Series stage.

In 2022, he went 6-4, 1.93 in 65 games, showing no after-effects from the previous season's injury. He made the All-Star team for the first time and after the Brewers traded Hader at the trading deadline, he became the team's closer for the final to months and picked up 15 saves. In 2023, he repeated as an All-Star and given the chance to be the team's closer from the outset, he racked up 36 saves, the fourth-highest total in the National League that season. His other numbers were all outstanding, with an ERA of 1.53, a mere 26 hits allowed in 58 2/3 innings, with 87 strikeouts and 28 walks. He was named the recipient of the Trevor Hoffman Award for a second time, but things went sour in the Wild Card Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks: in Game 1 on October 3rd, he made his belated postseason debut by coming into the top of the 9th with the Brewers trailing 4-3, with the mission to keep the game close to give his team a chance to come back in the bottom of the inning. It was an abject failure as he walked Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll to start the inning; still, he almost managed to escape when he struck out Ketel Marte and Perdomo was caught stealing third base, but he then threw a wild pitch to advance Carroll to third, walked Tommy Pham who promptly stole second, and gave up a two-run double to Christian Walker that effectively closed the books for Milwaukee.

The Brewers got some bad news in spring training in 2024 as Devin was diagnosed with two stress fractures in his back, shutting him down for at least three months. He had not been himself during his first few outings, and after the Brewers' team doctors failed to find anything wrong, he got a second opinion from a back specialist. As a result of the injury, he did not make his first appearance in the majors until July 28th, but once back he pitched very well, going 1-0, 1.25 with 14 saves in 22 outings. His ratios continued to be top-notch, with just 10 hits allowed in 21 2/3 innings, 11 walks and 38 strikeouts. But then, like a couple of other elite closers, most notably Emmanuel Clase, things completely fell apart when the postseason came around. He was his typical excellent self in nailing down the save in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against the New York Mets on October 2nd, setting down the side on 10 pitches, but the next night, in Game 3, his performance was a horror show. The Brewers had a 2-0 lead heading into the top of the 9th when he took over for Freddy Peralta, but he completely fell apart, walking lead-off man Francisco Lindor, then giving up a one-out single to Brandon Nimmo and a three-run homer to Pete Alonso that put the Mets ahead. He then hit Jesse Winker with a pitch, allowed him to steal second base, and gave up yet another hit, a single to Starling Marte that scored a fourth run before Joe Ross replaced him and recorded the final out. The Brewers could not climb out of the hole he had dug, going down in order in the bottom of the inning, and they were eliminated from the playoffs.

It turned out that his blown save and loss against the Mets would be the final calling card he would leave for Brewers fans. On December 13th, he was traded to the New York Yankees, who had just lost bullpen mainstay Clay Holmes to free agency, in return for another former All-Star, P Nestor Cortes and minor league IF Caleb Durbin. The plan was for Devin to take over as closer, with Luke Weaver sliding back into the set-up man role. He picked up his first save for his new team on Opening Day, March 27th, although he gave up one run on two hits in the 9th inning in a 4-2 win over the Brewers. On April 9th, in what was not a save situation, he gave up 3 runs in two-thirds of an inning in a 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, bringing his ERA to 12.00 on the season. His next three outings ended up with a save, but he then had meltdowns in back-to-back outings on April 19th and April 25th, giving up a total of 7 runs, and failing to retire a single batter while entrusted with a one-run lead against the Toronto Blue Jays in the second of these. Given the legendary patience of Yankees fans, there were calls to have him shipped out of town on a rail, and manager Aaron Boone had to reassure reporters that he still expected Devin to be a key part of the bullpen going forward - even though he would not go so far as to guarantee that the closer's job was still his. Things never really settled down for Devin. He did manage to record 18 saves in 67 games, but was never firmly entrenched in the closer role, and his ERA of 4.69 was an indication that he was giving up too many runs, even if his hit rate, walk rate and strikeout rate were all fairly good (45 hits, 25 walks and 90 strikeouts in 62 innings). He pitched well in the postseason, however, not giving up a run in four outings and receiving credit for New York's 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series on October 1st. In that game, he pitched a scoreless top of the 8th with the score tied at 3, and then received credit for the win when the Yankees scored a run in the bottom of the inning. However it was David Bednar who closed out the win, as Devin had exhausted his chances to win back the role.

He became a free agent after his season with the Yankees and on December 1st pulled off a "Juan Soto" - signing a large free agent contract to join the Bombers' cross-town rivals, the New York Mets. The Mets were not expected to re-sign their own closer, Edwin Diaz, and even if they did, would then want Williams to resume the set-up man role that he had successfully performed with the Brewers. All that came with a cost as the deal was said to be for $45 million over three years.

Most of his success in the majors has been the result of his outstanding change-up that has been dubbed the "airbender". Both the pitch's speed and its location seem to bear no relation to his pitching motion, making it extremely difficult for hitters to hit solidly.

Notable Achievements[edit]

2020 NL Rookie of the Year Award
2020 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
2-time NL All-Star (2022 & 2023)
2-time Trevor Hoffman Award Winner (2020 & 2023)
30 Saves Seasons: 1 (2023)

NL Rookie of the Year
2019	2020	2021
Pete Alonso	Devin Williams	Jonathan India

Related Sites[edit]

Devin Williams on mlb.com

Search

Namespaces

Views

Devin Williams

Contents

Biographical Information[edit]

Notable Achievements[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

Related Sites[edit]

Full Site Menu

FAQs, Tip & Tricks