The Yankees may have escaped with a 4-3 win on a frigid Wednesday afternoon at Comerica Park, but the mood around their new closer is anything but warm.
Devin Williams, the two-time All-Star signed in the offseason to solidify the back end of New York’s bullpen, once again stumbled in his latest outing.
What began as a dominant performance nearly turned into disaster, as the Yankees narrowly avoided a sweep at the hands of the Detroit Tigers.
Starter Max Fried was masterful through seven scoreless innings, punching out 11 and giving the Yankees a comfortable cushion.
A two-run homer from Ben Rice, along with some timely hitting, put New York ahead 4-0 heading into the ninth.
Then came Williams…
What should have been a routine save opportunity quickly unraveled. The right-hander surrendered two hits, two walks, and three earned runs, forcing manager Aaron Boone to make an emergency call to Mark Leiter Jr., who finally secured the last out with the tying run stranded on second base.
@Yankees Devin Williams is in “get booed out of the Stadium” territory right now with the Yankees fan base.
— JS (@J_Styborski) April 9, 2025Almost imploded Opening Day
”One Looked” the Ghost Runner at 2B 4 times in a row with 1 out to allow the eventual winning runner to swipe 3B easily, which immediately… pic.twitter.com/raBetDnBjN
It marked Williams’ fourth consecutive shaky outing to open the season – none of which have come without incident.
His debut nearly saw the Yankees cough up Opening Day. On Sunday, he surrendered a walk-off single to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Now, after being charged with three more runs in Detroit, Williams owns a 12.00 ERA, having allowed five runs (four earned), five hits, and four walks over just three innings of work.
Speaking after the game, Williams acknowledged the rocky start to his Yankees tenure. “I’m still figuring stuff out. I haven’t felt like 100 percent myself up to this point, but I would say I’m getting closer, for sure,” he said.
Boone expressed similar optimism. “I’m confident this is going to be a distant memory as we continue to move forward, because he’s not that far off,” the skipper said.
But the Yankees fan base hasn’t been so forgiving.
For now, the Bombers can exhale, thanks to Fried’s brilliance and Leiter Jr.’s late-game heroics. But if Williams doesn’t settle in soon, New York could be staring at a major problem.
Sure, the MLB season is a marathon. If my math serves me correct, there are still 972 games left in the regular season. Williams will have every opportunity to turn things around.
Having said that, what computers and the legions of analytic nerds never account for is the pressure of playing for the Yankees – especially at an ultra-high pressure position as closer.
People can try to downplay it all they want, but the whole “New York thing” is very real. As we’ve seen countless times, a player could dominate in a smaller market only to turn into a absolute disaster once he puts the pinstripes on.
Is that the case with Williams???
The Bronx is a very long ways from Milwaukee … Just how concerned should Yankees fans be with their new closer???
