CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Yankees got their first look at The Airbender in game action on Tuesday and liked what they saw from their new closer, Devin Williams.
Not only does he have among the fullest beards now that the team’s facial hair ban has been lifted, but Williams also looked like his old self with his signature pitch.
The at-bat that stood out to Aaron Boone was a fourth-inning strikeout of J.T. Realmuto, when Williams threw the Phillies catcher nothing but his famous changeup, getting him swinging for the second out of the fourth inning of a 12-3 win at BayCare Ballpark.
“It was fun to watch and see the discipline of making him get the ball up a little bit,’’ Boone said. “He laid off a couple good ones down, then moved it enough.”
Williams, who arrived from the Brewers in a trade that sent Nestor Cortes to Milwaukee, has become one of the best relievers in the game, largely on the back of that one pitch — a pitch Austin Wells had never seen in a game prior to Tuesday.
“It’s a great pitch,” Wells said. “It’s what makes him so good. … It just does different stuff every time, and with the arm angle, it’s hard to pick up.”
And while that sounds like a difficult pitch to catch, Wells noted, “At least I know the pitch is coming.”
According to Baseball Savant, Williams threw the change 45 percent of the time a year ago, down from 58 percent in 2023.
He threw it on six of his 12 pitches against Philadelphia and also mixed in a cutter, a pitch he’s attempted to add to his mix in the past, in addition to a mid-90s fastball.
The cutter was fouled off by Kyle Schwarber, as Williams said it allowed him to “steal a strike.”
The right-hander threw just six cutters a year ago and said he intends to use more this season — although he added that’s been his plan in the past, but he hasn’t followed through.
Still, the reason the Yankees traded for him and put him at the back of their bullpen is the changeup.
His best pitch of the day was that fifth Airbender he threw to Realmuto, which resulted in him flailing for a third strike, seemingly an indication that Williams was already in midseason form.
Williams, though, said he didn’t need that evidence to know his pitch was working.
“I don’t need that swing to know that,” Williams said. “If it feels right, I usually know and the computer tells me it’s doing what it’s supposed to do.”
Still, watching it be effective in a game is encouraging and further proof he has it doing what he wants with a little more than three weeks left before Opening Day.
“It’s in a good spot, but the game speeds up and it’s faster than a live BP or bullpen,” Williams said. “I was kind of playing around with it today and had a good feel for it. … I’ve hit the ground running with it.”
