Devin Williams Has Been Awful and May His Closer Role With New York Yankees

Devin Williams, the Yankees closer, has been awful this season. When the Yankees traded for him, they thought they were getting one of the best closers in baseball. At least that is what the numbers say, but his terrible 11.25 earned run average in 2025 is about 10 runs higher than all of his previous seasons.

Williams has some kind of mental block. Maybe when Pete Alonso hit a walk off home run against him in last year’s National League Wild Card series it broke him. Do you know what is wrong with Devin Williams?

How Devin Williams Was Acquired

The Yankees acquired Williams in the offseason via trade. The New York Yankees traded beloved Starting Pitcher Nestor Cortes to the Milwaukee Brewers straight up for Williams. When they made the trade for Williams the Yankees thought they were securing the best closer in baseball. It has not worked out that way.

The trade looked like a steal as Cortes is definitely on the back side of his career. The numbers for Cortes in this season bear that out (a 9.00 earned run average). However, the statistics for Williams have been worse.

Awful Statistics

Williams pitched for six seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers. Not counting the first of these seasons, when he only pitched in 13 games, his earned run average was less than two runs a game in all seasons but his third, when his earned run average was 2,50. In that time, he had 68 saves.

This year, so far, he has 4 saves and an 11.25 ERA. He has pitched eight innings and given up ten earned runs. He has spectacularly lost games so far this season. This miserable record took a turn for the worse, if that is possible, last night when he blew a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning as the Yankees lost 4-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Polar Bear Problems

Williams suffered a traumatic event last season that may have negatively affected him. In the ninth inning of the third game of the wild card playoff series last year against the New York Mets, Williams surrendered a three-run walk-off to Alonso. This is a traumatic event for a closer, and it was even more difficult for him given the walk-off home run happened at home. That mind-blowing failure happened on national television. It must have traumatized Williams because he has not been the same since.

Should He Be New York’s Closer?

Many are calling for the job of the Yankee closer. Last year, after then-Yankee Closer Clay Holmes blew his 13th save, Luke Weaver stepped in admirably as the closer. Weaver is still in the Yankee bullpen and is pitching well. Many believe that Weaver should be made the closer right now. However, just today, the vaunted Yankee closer, got a lukewarm vote of confidence from his Manager Aaron Boone. There are some other options for the Yankees, who will soon get reinforcements in the bullpen.

Conclusion

Nobody knows if the Yankees will change their closer, but there are a few facts we know for sure. First, the current Yankee closer is pitching much worse than he has in his career and this turn occurred after a traumatic event. Second, there is at least one strong option for a closer in the Yankee bullpen. Third, the Yankee position will grow stronger as they immediately expect bullpen reinforcements to come off the injured list. Fourth, Williams has lost games for the Yankees this season, including spectacular failures.