Devin Williams open to re-signing with the Yankees after adjusting to New York in rocky first season

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NEW YORK (AP) — After finishing a rocky first season in pinstripes with four scoreless postseason outings, Devin Williams is open to re-signing with the New York Yankees.

“At first it was a challenge, but I’ve grown to love being here,” the reliever said after the Yankees were eliminated with a 5-2 loss to Toronto in Game 4 of their AL Division Series. “I love this city. I love taking the train to the field every day. Yeah, I really enjoyed my experience here.”

A two-time All-Star acquired from Milwaukee in December, Williams had a career-worst 4.79 ERA and 18 saves in 22 chances, losing the closer's job, regaining it and losing it again. In his final appearance Wednesday night, he allowed a pair of inherited runners to score when Nathan Lukes singled in the seventh inning.

“Proud of him for going through certainly some, I'm sure, very tough moments professionally this year,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “That’s part of being a pro, though. That’s part of being great at this is handling those things and he’s done that."

A 31-year-old right-hander who made $8.6 million, Williams throws a fastball averaging 94 mph and a changeup known as the “Airbender.” After watching Williams and then Luke Weaver struggle, the Yankees obtained David Bednar from Pittsburgh at the July 31 trade deadline and installed him as their closer.

Bednar is under club control for next season, and Williams said having the chance to close will factor into his signing decision.

“I feel like it depends on the scenario,” he said. “But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Williams started hearing boos just 18 pitches into his Yankees career, making the Division Series cheers especially satisfying.

“It’s nice to feel appreciated sometimes. Yeah, it was definitely a lot better than what I’ve heard for much of the year,” he said.

Control issues hurt him this season, when batters had a .391 average in at-bats after he fell behind 2-0 in the count and .455 after he went to 3-1.

For much of the season, Boone kept pointing out that advanced analytics showed Williams was pitching better than his statistics indicated. Williams' opponents' expected batting average of .198 ranked 17th among pitchers facing at least 100 hitters.

“That’s baseball sometimes," Williams said. "You hope that the math starts math-ing and stuff starts to go your way on balls that are typically outs. Instead of finding holes, they’re finding gloves."

His 2024 season ended in the NL Wild Card Series finale when he allowed a go-ahead, three-run homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso, and Williams struggled from the outset in 2025. He loaded the bases with no outs against his former team on opening day, allowed a sacrifice fly and then struck out Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich to preserve a 4-2 win over the Brewers.

Demanding fans were livid.

Williams lost the closer's job by late April after allowing a go-ahead, two-run double to the Blue Jays' Alejandro Kirk in a 4-2 loss that left him 0-2 with an 11.25 ERA.

“I played in the smallest market in the league, to the biggest market in the league. I drove to the field every day ... it took me 10 minutes to get there in Milwaukee,” he said. “There’s just a lot of life stuff that it’s an adjustment. ... I got here a day before the season started and then had to figure out my routine kind of on the fly.”

Weaver took over as closer until straining a hamstring on May 31. Williams was thrust back into the finishing job and had converted 13 straight save chances before giving up a go-ahead, two-run homer to Tampa Bay's Josh Lowe on July 30 in a game New York rebounded to win in 11 innings.

Five days later, Williams allowed Joc Pederson’s tying homer in the ninth at Texas in a game the Yankees lost in 10 innings.

After Bednar arrived, Williams had just one more save over the final two months of the season and was handed his fourth blown save on Aug. 30 when Chase Meidroth hit a tying single in the seventh before the Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox in 11 innings.

“My mindset’s never changed throughout this whole year,” Williams said. “I just kept showing up and now I’m getting the results I want right now.”

Back when Williams was struggling, Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton urged him to “keep pushing.”

“It’s cool to see him get some appreciation for how hard he’s worked all year,” Stanton said.

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