Is Pressure of Playing for New York Yankees Too Much for Devin Williams?

There has been a lot said about the struggles of Devin Williams with the New York Yankees.

It wasn't hard to picture the elite closer becoming the shutdown guy this team desperately needed after the Yankees acquired him in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers this past offseason.

Williams had been one of the most dominant relievers of this era with a ridiculous 1.83 ERA and 231 ERA+ in 241 appearances, converting 68 of his 78 save opportunities while winning the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year Award and the Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year Award twice.

Adding him to the equation was supposed to be an easy plug-and-play situation.

But it has not worked out that way.

Williams was finally removed from the closer role following a blow up against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 25 where he allowed three earned runs in a blown save before recording a single out.

That pushed his ERA on the season to 11.25 at the time.

His signature pitch -- the "Airbender" changeup -- has been crushed by opponents throughout the season, and his K/9 rate (9.0) is the lowest of his career while his BB/9 rate (7.0) is the highest.

New York knew they had to change his role, and that's exactly what they did.

Manager Aaron Boone said he's going to use Williams in non-high-leverage situations for the time being to see if that helps him regain some of the confidence he has lost.

However, there is some concern that Williams won't be the elite reliever he has previously been before joining the Yankees, and that's because the bright lights of playing in New York could be too much for him.

"Williams said he's had to make a lot of life adjustments since getting traded to the Yankees in the offseason ... Since his first day with the Yankees, it has not seemed like Williams has been able to settle in quickly. When asked about his comfort in getting settled, Williams said, 'Easy enough, as New York City can be,'" wrote Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (subscription required).

Growing up outside of St. Louis, Mo. and then being selected by the Brewers organization in the draft before eventually getting called up to Milwaukee, it is different living in the Big Apple and playing for the Yankees.

There's more notoriety, more eyeballs and more pressure.

Williams has experienced all of that in the few months since he's been in New York, infamously becoming the one who spearheaded the removal of the long-standing "no beards" policy while later getting booed off the field by the home fans.

He wouldn't be the only one who hasn't been able to handle playing for the Yankees.

There are a long list of players over the years who have seen their careers tank after they joined this franchise, only to see a resurgence of sorts once they get out of the fishbowl.

It's too early to definitively say that's the case with Williams.

His teammates are confident he can find his elite form, and once he figures out what he believes to be a mechanical issue, then he should start producing like the dominant reliever he once was.

But this will be a storyline until that happens.

Williams returned to the mound on Monday and pitched well, allowing no hits in one inning of work while striking out a batter.

Hopefully that's a sign of things to come and he can start settling into New York.

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