New York Yankees All-Star Reliever Being Undone by Some Horrendous Luck

The New York Yankees All-Star closer is dealing with some horrible luck on the mound.

Apr 14, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells (28) and pitcher Devin Williams (38) shake hands to celebrate the victory after the game against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium. | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Over the offseason, one of the major additions that the New York Yankees made to their roster was closer Devin Williams.

He was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in a blockbuster trade in exchange for starting pitcher Nestor Cortes and prospect Caleb Durbin. It was considered an incredible deal for the Yankees, strengthening what was already a solid bullpen.

With Williams taking over as the closer, New York had an elite duo at the back end of their bullpen, with Luke Weaver moving into the set-up role. He was excellent in the psotseason, taking over as the closer, a role that Clay Holmes held previously.

Weaver was lights out during the postseason, making 12 appearances and throwing 15.1 innings. He had a 1.76 ERA and 16 strikeouts, mowing down all of his opponents.

That dominance has carried over to the 2025 regular season with Weaver getting off to a historic start. He has yet to allow a run nine appearances and 11 innings, facing 40 batters and producing a 0.9 WAR already.

Things haven’t gone anywhere near as well for Williams, who is on the opposite end of the spectrum.

He is struggling mightily with his new team.

Arguably the best closer in baseball for the last few years, he has looked abnormally human during the start to his Yankees tenure.

On Saturday, things reached a new low when the Tampa Bay Rays mounted a massive comeback against him. He was charged with four earned runs, giving up four hits and one walk without a single strikeout.

After recording an eye-popping 14.3 K/9 ratio with the Brewers, he has a pedestrian 9.0 K/9 thus far with New York. It is one of the many areas that he has struggled to get going in.

Williams hasn’t struggled to this extent previously in his career, but he is a notoriously slow starter, with his April numbers being worse than any other month of the season.

He is far from his best form, but some of the struggles for Williams can be attributed to horrible luck.

On Saturday afternoon, his implosion against the Rays was full of negative outcomes that were outside of his control.

As shared by chattanooga on X, the expecte batting average on three of the hits surrendered were insanely low; .089, .016 and .149. If those balls in play had been converted into outs as expected, the Yankees likely come away with their 14th win of the season instead of an eighth loss.

Devin Williams “Hits”
.089 xba
.016 xba
.149 xba

3 hits today 90% of the time are outs. We got that unlucky.
Onto the next one!

— chattanooga (@chattan00ga) April 20, 2025

Another stat that should regress to the mean is his batting average on balls in play. Right now it sits at an unsustainable .423; the league average is .293.

Williams is certainly pitching far from his highest capability, but some of his struggles aren’t tough luck. He has yet to surrender a home run and his hard-hit rate allowed of 34.6% is still well below the league average of 39.1%.

Once those numbers begin to even out, his overall production will start to take off.