Location Key to Devin Williams’ Struggles in 2025

Location undid Yankee Reliever Devin Williams last night in Houston in a messy eighth inning. Location is the key to pitching, like real estate, and he is struggling with it. Last night, he came into a tie game and promptly gave up a double and three walks; poor control defined him again.

He was removed, but the damage had been done, as the Yankees were behind. Then, Camilo Doval came in and threw gasoline on the fire. Both Williams and Manager Aaron Boone were ejected by home plate umpire Brian Walsh for arguing the location of pitches. Will he ever be able to pitch well again?

Location Remains a Problem

Inexplicably, Williams was selected from a rested bullpen. Location was obviously a problem as he walked three and surrendered a double, and a tie turned into a loss. Both he and Boone were ejected for arguing balls and strikes.  The season-long struggles from the pitcher boil down to control. He throws hard enough, and his ‘airbender’ changeup does move a lot.

Location, Location, Location

Much like real estate, pitching is about location. To be effective, a pitcher needs to precisely locate his pitches. That is why Major League Baseball pitchers make millions of dollars. Williams only throws two pitches, a four-seam fastball and a changeup. He throws his fastball at about 96 miles per hour, and his changeup, labeled the ‘airbender,’ spins at an impressive 2,900 revolutions per minute. Because he throws only two pitches, he must precisely locate both to be effective.

He locates neither precisely, and his close but no cigar pitches got both him and Boone ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Take his fastball.  96 miles per hour is plenty good enough as far as velocity goes (just ask Greg Maddux). However, he is missing with it, sometimes by 3 inches. Or sometimes by 3 feet. This is a problem because if a pitcher is trying to hit the corner of the strike zone and he is missing by 3 inches, he will just miss. His changeup? It moves a lot, but it is clear neither he nor his catcher knows where that pitch is going.

If a pitcher is missing with his fastball, hitters will not view it as a threat and will sit on, or expect, your changeup. This is what we are seeing with Williams. Hitters also expect him to miss with both pitches and not swing. They will walk like they did three times in the eighth inning last night.

He and Boone can argue all they want, but you are not allowed to argue balls and strikes and will get ejected, but if the pitcher has not established that he can locate his pitches, the umpire will call them balls. With only two pitches, he must be able to locate them. When he was effective, he could. He cannot now, and therefore cannot be trusted. He has probably lost the right to pitch in any close games at this point, though Boone seems to prefer bringing him in at crunch time, even though he cannot locate either of his pitches. The Yankees have a well-rested bullpen with four closers and a bunch of talent.

Conclusion

Major League Baseball pitchers are impressive because they can locate their pitches precisely. They can knock a gnat off a fence post from 60 feet away. Williams cannot do that now. It is funny, but there is a bright line in his career that separates effectiveness from ineffectiveness. In the playoffs last season, while pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers, he gave up a game-winning home run to the Mets’ Pete Alonso. He may have been broken at that traumatic moment.