With Devin Williams looking more and more like the dominant reliever he was in Milwaukee, the Yankees’ air-bending right-hander isn’t worried about whether he’ll reclaim the team’s closing role.
“It doesn’t matter right now,” Williams told the Daily News after the Yankees beat the Rangers, 5-2, on Tuesday. “It doesn’t matter.”
Williams spoke after allowing one hit, a double to Wyatt Langford, and striking out two during a scoreless eighth inning. He has now recorded six straight appearances without an earned run. Nine of his 10 outings since being removed as the Yankees’ closer fit that description as well, and his ERA is down to 6.88.
Prior to being stripped of his duties, Williams had an 11.25 ERA, 0-2 record, four saves and one blown save over his first 10 games with the Yankees. His comfort beneath New York’s bright lights was called into question over that stretch, and Aaron Boone ultimately decided Williams had to be demoted from closing “for right now” on April 27.
On Tuesday, Boone was asked if Williams could eventually resume closing, which Luke Weaver has been taking care of.
“We’ll see,” Boone said. “No plans right now. I feel like so many of our guys down there, Devin included, are throwing the ball really well. Obviously, Luke’s done outstanding in the role. So we’ll see. We’ll just see as we go. I just want to continue to have [Williams] throwing the ball like he is, and he’s going to be in high-leverage situations. That could be closing on a given day, but no plans to do it one way or another right now.”
A two-time National League Reliever of the Year with the Brewers, Williams established himself as one of the best relievers in baseball before the Yankees acquired him for Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin over the winter.
He entered the season with a 1.83 ERA for his career, and he accumulated 65 saves over his last three seasons in Milwaukee. That span included an injury-riddled 2024 and half a 2022 season with Josh Hader as a teammate. Hader was the Brewers’ closer before Williams.
With Williams approaching free agency this coming offseason, recapturing the closer’s role – and thriving in it – could boost his impending payday. But he’s trying not to look at it that way.
“I mean, I’m putting up zeros, right?” Williams said, downplaying the impact his role could have on his earnings. “You guys get all caught up in this. It’s always a question. It’s not a thing. If I give up runs in the eighth inning, if I give up runs in the ninth inning, they count the same. It’s the same thing.”
Other pitchers might feel differently in Williams’ spot, but he also pointed out that Weaver has been exceptional.
Weaver owns a 0.44 ERA and six saves after notching the final out on Tuesday.
“He’s doing his thing right now,” Williams said. “It’s not like he’s struggling.”
Last year, Weaver acted as a multi-inning, use-anytime fireman for the Yankees before taking over the closer’s role from Clay Holmes. Weaver shined then as well, but that didn’t stop the Yankees from trading for Williams.
At the time, the plan was for Weaver to be a late-inning fireman again while Williams handled the ninth.
Is that still what the Yankees’ perfect world looks like?
“Not necessarily, but maybe,” Boone said, noting that he trusts several relievers, including Fernando Cruz, Jonathan Loáisiga, Mark Leiter Jr. and Tim Hill, to fill multiple roles. “I have a lot of confidence in guys down there right now to be firemen in their own right.”
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