NEW YORK — Devin Williams found autumn in New York so inviting.
“I typically go out of the country for like a week or so once the season’s over. Instead, this year, I actually went to New York and spent 10 days in October,” he said. “Good restaurants, shopping. I went to MoMA, the Natural History museum.”
He will get some more time in the Big Apple after the New York Yankees acquired the All-Star closer from the Milwaukee Brewers for left-hander Nestor Cortes and infield prospect Caleb Durbin.
“Ten days isn’t really enough to do all the things in New York City, so looking forward to spend some more time there,” Williams said.
Williams is eligible for salary arbitration this offseason and can become a free agent after the World Series. He could be open to a long-term contract.
“If it’s right for both sides, that’s definitely always an option,” he said. “Nothing has been discussed up until now.”
He is part of the Yankees’ makeover following the failure to retain outfielder Juan Soto, who left for a record 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets. Left-hander Max Fried agreed to an eight-year, $218 million contract and the Yankees agreed to acquire outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger from the Chicago Cubs for right-hander Cody Poteet.
Williams’ 2024 season ended with a Game 3 loss to the Mets in a Wild Card Series after he allowed a go-ahead, three-run, ninth-inning homer to Pete Alonso.
“Every failure I’ve ever had has stuck with me, but it’s not something that holds me back,” Williams said. “If anything, it pushes me forward. Every time I’ve failed, I want to get back on the mound to right myself. ”
Former Brewers teammate Jake Cousins called Williams to welcome him to the Yankees and captain Aaron Judge texted. The reliever had just arrived for a workout at Cressey Sports Performance in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, when he learned of the trade.
“I kind of thought I’d be going to LA, that was what I was being told, and the Yankees snuck in there under the table and got the deal done,” he said. “I hadn’t really heard much about about the Yankees’ interest me up until the moment that they traded for me.”
Voted 2020 NL Rookie of the Year, Williams became Milwaukee’s closer after Josh Hader was traded to San Diego on Aug. 1, 2022. Williams was 14 for 15 in save chances with a 1.25 ERA, striking out 38 and walking 11 among 88 batters over 21 2/3 innings. His fastball averaged 94.7 mph and he threw it on 53.5% of his pitches, mixing in 45% changeups — known as the “Airbender” — and around 1.5% cutters.
“I’ve always had a really good changeup, even growing up it’s something that I kind of developed just in the backyard playing catch with my friends,” he said. “The big change really came in 2020, well, ’19 going into 2020, just used that as time to kind of tweak it and reshape it a little bit during COVID and then it just kind of took off there in the 2020 season.”
Williams switched from a two-seam grip to a four-seam grip in the spring of 2019 while pitching batting practice to new Yankees teammate Trent Grisham and began throwing it more slowly with more movement a year later.
He is looking forward to pitching before a packed Yankee Stadium.
“When it’s close, it makes me focus more,” he said. “At times, I think you can lose focus if you don’t feel like the game is on the line right there in that moment.”
Before reporting to the Yankees for spring training, Williams will have to get rid of his beard.
“I think I’ll probably keep it as long as I can,” he said. “It’s probably been about six years since I’ve been clean shaven.”
