When the Yankees removed Devin Williams from the closer’s role on April 27, the reliever made a change of his own.
Starting with the Bombers’ ensuing series in Baltimore, Williams began calling his own pitches on PitchCom. He hasn’t stopped since.
“I wasn’t comfortable with the way the game was being called,” Williams told the Daily News. “So instead of, I don’t know, trying to make other people see what I’m seeing, I took it into my own hands, and it’s been good since.”
Williams is correct, as he owns a 2.42 ERA and seven saves over 24 games dating back to that Orioles series and a 1.45 ERA and 25 strikeouts over his last 20 games. This ongoing stretch comes after he recorded an 11.25 ERA, two losses and one blown save over his first 10 games with the Yankees.
His bounce-back has seen him return to closing. He reclaimed the job when Luke Weaver went on the injured list in early June and has continued to handle save situations with both righties now active.
When he was struggling, Williams wondered if he was throwing his air-bending changeup too much and not using his fastball, his only other pitch, enough. He hasn’t paid attention to his exact usage since he began calling his own pitches, but he knows he’s used his heater more lately.
According to Baseball Savant, Williams threw his changeup about 54% of the time in April and May while turning to his four-seamer roughly 46% of the time. In June, however, he was firing each pitch exactly 50% of the time before notching a three-out save in Friday’s 3-0 win over the Athletics.
“I feel like I’ve been executing pretty well and keeping guys off balance and just not being predictable,” Williams said before Sacramento saw six fastballs and nine changeups.
Acquired from the Brewers over the offseason, Williams spent the first six years of his career in Milwaukee. A two-time National League Reliever of the Year, he never called his own pitches there.
“I never really felt like I needed to, but it didn’t start well here, and I think that that played a factor,” Williams said. “So I said, ‘I’ll call it myself. I’ll call my own pitches.’”
Asked if the Yankees’ pitching coaches and catchers were not on the same page as him earlier this season, Williams said, “I’m not gonna say anything bad about anyone” before adding, “I’m pitching with more confidence. I’m executing. It’s really all there is to it.”
But are others now seeing what he was trying to convey at the onset of his Yankees career?
“I guess,” he said. “I don’t know. It’s almost like they don’t really have an input now, so it doesn’t really matter. I just do it myself. I know every hitter that gets in the box. I’m prepared for every single hitter that they could throw at me on their side. I go into every at-bat with a plan, and I call it myself.
“I’ve never wanted to rely on anybody else, and I’m not.”
Williams is not the only Yankee who calls his own game on PitchCom.
Max Fried takes the same approach, though for different reasons.
With a seven-pitch mix, Fried quickly found that deciding his own pitches saved time when MLB implemented the pitch clock in 2023. He began taking charge of PitchCom while pitching for the Braves and has continued to do so as a first-year Yankee.
“I’ve got a lot of pitches, and you have to sit there and listen to that and keep shaking,” Fried told The News. “And when you get down to five seconds, it’s just easier for me to hit the button and tell [the catcher]. It’s just a way to speed up communication.”
Williams, who wears his PitchCom on his belt and uses his glove to hide his selections from opponents, named a few other pitchers who call their own games. He specifically mentioned injured Diamondbacks ace — and former Brewers teammate — Corbin Burnes and Toronto’s Max Scherzer.
The Mets’ Reed Garrett does sometimes as well.
“I don’t think it’s that weird,” Williams said.
