New York Mets closer Devin Williams is new to his job, and in theory he wanted to make a good impression with the fan base. But Williams flunked the test yesterday in his spring training debut against the St. Louis Cardinals, serving up a home run pitch to JJ Wetherholt on what manager Carlos Mendoza called a ”cutter that didn’t cut much,” according to a report written by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
Williams wasn’t concerned much that this, though. It’s only spring training, and he’s working on adding a cutter and slider to his repertoire after relying a changeup as an out pitch to go with his fastball.
The Mets new closer also knows how this goes over in New York. He had some issues with the cross-town New York Yankees when he joined the Yanks last year, so he knows he’ll get some unwanted extra publicity out of this.
“That one specifically, I was just trying to throw a strike and he jumped on it,” Williams said. “I kind of babied it, trying to just throw it over the plate. He wasn’t giving me strike one.”
While the pitch was just one pitch among dozens in games that don’t count, it does represent the issues Williams has had in his career as a closer on an intermittent basis. He throws hard, but not as hard as many closers, and it’s unusual for pitchers who work the ninth to rely on a breaking ball to get outs.
Williams does have a specific goal in this, however. According to DiComo, the idea behind the cutter/slider combination is to jam left-handed hitters or get righties to chase pitches that are outside.
“I think it’s more of a luxury,” Mendoza said. “He’s been pretty elite with the fastball-changeup combo. And now adding that cutter/slider, it’s going to get hitters away from sitting on just one particular pitch. That changeup’s elite, but something that goes into lefties, away from righties, and not so much up and down, is important.”
Mendoza is covering for his player, of course. It’s easy to forget now because of all the moves the Mets have made, but signing Williams was a controversial move because the team was at the beginning of what became contentious negotiations with former closer Edwin Diaz, who wound up signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Mets basically challenged Diaz in these negotiations, saying Williams was open to a dual role as closer or setup man, with the then-newest pitcher slotting into the latter role if Diaz returned. That didn't happen, so now Williams is the man, and this is the sort of thing that comes with that designation.
“This being my first [outing], it was kind of just fill up the strike zone with everything,” Williams said, “and not really worry about results.”
The new closer’s results will be carefully scrutinized, though, given Williams up-and-down season. He pitched well for the most part with the Yankees, but Williams also wound up with an ERA of 4.79, which would put the Mets new closer under a slightly different version of a microscope he knows all too well.