Mets' Devin Williams shows what he's made of just by returning to New York
Former Yankees relief pitcher Devin Williams reacts during the 10th inning in a game against the Mariners on May 13 in Seattle, Washington. Credit: Getty Images/Steph Chambers
Devin Williams had every reason to leave New York and never look back.
The righthander struggled after being traded to the Yankees, leading so many people to say he simply didn’t have the gumption to pitch here. But as a two-time All-Star and at only 31, he still was among the best relievers available in the free-agent market this offseason, especially given that his peripheral numbers indicated that he wasn’t as bad as his 4.79 ERA might have made him seem.
Although he lost his closer role this past season, every team that courted him viewed him as a closer, he said Friday. And while there’s certainly a very good chance that he might fill that role with the Mets, there still is a chance that they will re-sign Edwin Diaz, relegating Williams to a setup role.
But there he was on a Zoom call with reporters during his introductory news conference, answering questions about his not-so-new home. And that, at least, should imbue Mets fans with some sort of confidence.
Williams apparently is not the type to shrink away from his failures. Sure, he’s not the most talkative interviewee in the world, but in a universe in which he could have chosen to go anywhere, he stayed here. He stayed in the city where he was booed mercilessly by the Bronx faithful and signed with a team responsible for one of his most high-profile blunders — the go-ahead three-run home run he gave up to Pete Alonso in the ninth inning of the Mets’ clinching Wild Card Series Game 3 win over the Brewers in 2024.
So while Williams didn’t say all that much on Friday, it’s more about what he said in between the lines.
“I’m comfortable here,” he said when asked about acclimating to New York. “It’s familiar now. I know what I’m going to need to do in order to get to the field and things like that — you know, getting home, life stuff. I’ve got all that figured out.”
There’s a lot of talk about what makes a player a “good fit” for New York. Sonny Gray, who notoriously fizzled in his stint with the Yankees, inadvertently provided some insight earlier this week when he was traded from the Cardinals to the Red Sox.
“New York just wasn't a good situation for me,” he told Red Sox reporters during his own introductory news conference. “It wasn't a great setup for me and my family. I never wanted to go there in the first place.”
And Boston?
“I always felt like it’s a low-rise city that doesn't just feel like you're surrounded by [big buildings],” Gray said. “You can see the sky. Things like that are important to me.”
Gray has every right to have that preference. But while some players prefer the sky, others prefer the bright lights, and the fact that Williams was so keen to come back despite a season that frequently was truly nightmarish gives reason to believe that he's in the latter category.
This isn't just about "vibes" or "intangibles." Williams simply got better as he got acclimated. In finishing with 90 strikeouts in 62 innings, he had a 39.3% strikeout rate after the All-Star break, which was second among pitchers with a minimum of 25 innings pitched, and his xFIP — expected fielding independent pitching — was 2.95, which is elevated from his 2.69 career average, but not egregiously so.
Sure, in a perfect world, he would want to close. But people’s characters tend to come out when they’re at their lowest, and when Williams was struggling professionally in a way that he rarely had experienced since being named Rookie of the Year in 2020, he often was accountable, he showed a willingness to own up to his mistakes and was prepared to pitch whenever called upon.
He's also continuing to put in the work. His famous “Airbender” is a unicorn of a changeup, but on Friday he said he knew he couldn’t rely on just that. He struggled with his mechanics and pitch selection early on, he said, and though he didn’t express this, the heavy amount of contact on that wicked changeup at least pointed to the possibility that he might have been tipping his pitches.
So he’s going to adapt. First with more cutter usage but then with adding a gyro slider.
“I mean, it's really something that I felt I needed to do for a while, but I just really haven't put it into play yet, you know?” he said. “I think it's something that I've been working on for years now, and it's, it can be a really good pitch for me. I just need to use it.”
There’s an adage that says the same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It’s a little simplistic, sure. But by staying in New York on a three-year contract, Williams has committed himself to an odd sort of exposure therapy.
If it doesn’t work, he’ll be lambasted, and he knows that. If he does? Well, then he becomes the thing that New York likes the most: a redemption story, and — to borrow a phrase so often heard in his old Bronx home — the idea that if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
