Yankees: Closer Devin Williams brings The Airbender to the Bronx
Like Mariano Rivera’s cutter, Devin Williams’ signature pitch has helped make him one of baseball’s most influential relievers.
For years, teammates have asked Devin Williams to teach them his changeup, a pitch so unusual and dominant it has its own nickname. Williams always helps. They just never get “The Airbender” right.
“I haven’t seen anyone replicate it,” Williams said.
Powered by The AirbenderWilliams has established himself as one of baseball’s premier relievers since breaking into the majors in 2019. He’s been so good that the Milwaukee Brewers, following their frugal roster-building tactics, traded Williams to the New York Yankees last month. passed on to lefty Néstor Cortés and prospect Caleb Durbin before he inevitably became too expensive in free agency next winter.
Thus, at least for one season, Williams will follow in the footsteps of another Yankee closer who baffled hitters with a pitch: Mariano Rivera.
“Those are big shoes to fill,” Williams said of Rivera, whose signature cutter helped him become the first player unanimously voted into the Hall of Fame. “I feel like he kind of ruined things for everyone else. I mean, after him, it’s hard to live up to those expectations. But at the end of the day, I can only be myself.”
Being himself has been more than enough for the 30-year-old Williams. The right-hander won the 2020 National League Rookie of the Year Award with an ERA of 0.33 in 22 games as the main setup man of the Brewers during the shortened campaign COVID. He was an All-Star in 2022 and 2023, his first full season as a closer.
Last season, after missing the first four months with stress fractures in his back, he posted a 1.25 ERA with 14 saves in 15 opportunities in 22 appearances. His 40.8% strikeout rate since 2020 ranks second in the majors among relievers. His 1.70 ERA is also second. His .144 batting average against ranks first.
“Obviously, he’s one of the best in the league, if not the best,” the Yankees pitching coach said. Matt Blake.
For Williams, it all starts with The Airbender. Williams grabs it as a changeup and his 84 mph average velocity combines with his fastball as a changeup. But it’s a changeup with an exceptionally high spin rate that breaks to the side of his arm, opposite of the typical changeup, making it look like a screw or a lefty’s sweeping slider. It is unprecedented.
“It has nothing to do with grip,” Williams said. “The grip is nothing special. That’s why I think it’s funny when people say, ‘Oh, don’t give it away.’ This is the most basic switch grip they teach you when you’re 8 years old.”
Williams said his changeup is very different for two reasons: his elite length, which ranked in the 98th percentile in 2024, and a unique ability to rotate his wrist.
“It’s the way my wrist works, the way I can manipulate the ball is something unique, unique to me,” Williams said. “It allows me to throw my changeup the way I do. I’m a really good rotator, not a supinator. That’s why my slider sucked. You need to get on the other side of the ball. I’m not good at that. I’m good at making spin the ball.”
However, Williams modified his change-up grip to bring out the weapon. Entering 2019, Williams was a minor leagues with problems and a solid gear change, two years after the tommy john surgery. He was a year away from becoming a free agent, from perhaps seeing his career come to an end and going to college to play football.
That spring, looking for more movement, he modified his two-seam changeup grip to a four-seam circular changeup grip. He first threw it during a live batting practice session to then-Brewers prospect Trent Grisham. Grisham, now with the Yankees, told Williams that the spin difference was notable. Williams stood his ground.
Williams was a starter during spring training and was sent to Double-A as a reliever to start the season. The descent caused desperation and Williams decided to throw harder than ever, reaching back to raise his fastball to 90 miles per hour. In August he was already in the majors. But it wasn’t until the COVID shutdown in 2020, when he realized that spinning the ball more and slowing it down from just under 90 mph to around 85 mph created more movement, that his changeup reached another level.
“I carried that into the season and in summer camp I go up against my own teammates,” Williams said. “Already Jedd GyorkoI threw one at him, and he swung and missed and he said, What’s that? I had never seen (anything) like that. That gave me confidence and we just took advantage of it. And I literally started throwing it all the time.”
Coincidentally, Williams said the closest trade he’s seen to his own belongs to Luke Weaver, whose emergence as a firefighter in 2024 was crucial to the Yankees reaching the World Series. Williams was in New York when the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers played in the Fall Classic. He was on his annual fall vacation after the Brewers were eliminated from the postseason. Previous trips have taken him all over Europe: London, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Munich, Dortmund, with a football match invariably on his itinerary.
This time, I was in New York. He explored the city for 10 days. Instead of football, he watched the World Series from a bar. He made purchases. He ate good food. It absorbed the energy of the city.
“I’m a city guy,” Williams said. “I love exploring cities. I like to immerse myself in the culture. I want to be like a normal, everyday person. Do you like bacon, eggs and cheese? Okay, I’m going to eat bacon, eggs and cheese” .
Less than two months later, as part of a series of moves made in their turnaround since Juan Soto’s decision to sign with the hometown Mets, the Yankees added Williams. On Thursday, Williams agreed to an $8.6 million settlement to avoid arbitration.
He will team with Weaver to create one of the best closing relief tandems in baseball, hoping to help the Yankees win their first championship since Rivera dominated hitters with his cutter.
