Devin Williams has clearly had difficulty getting used to his new environment after being traded from the Brewers to New York to be the Yankees closer.
Now, he’ll have to get accustomed to another unfamiliar role: ex-closer.
Aaron Boone said Sunday that he told Williams he was being removed as closer “for right now” after two more collapses in his most recent outings, as his tenure in The Bronx gets off to an almost unimaginably poor start.
Luke Weaver, who replaced Clay Holmes in the closer role late last season, will do the same this time around, as well.
“For right now, I’m gonna take him out of that role,’’ Boone said of Williams before Sunday’s doubleheader against Toronto. “As I said to him, ‘You’ve still got everything to be great.’ This is a guy who’s in the prime of his career and is just going through it a little bit. It happens.”
Williams called the decision “disappointing,’’ but he didn’t argue with it.
“The way things have gone this season, it’s not really a shock,” Williams said after the Yankees swept a doubleheader against Toronto. “Being a closer is a position you have to earn and you have to keep earning it. Lately, I haven’t been doing that.”
He opened the season with four shaky outings, allowing four walks and four runs in three innings before straightening himself in four consecutive solid appearances.
Then came consecutive outings in which Williams allowed multiple runs, including his blown save on Friday.
That left him with 10 earned runs in just 12 innings, as well as a WHIP of 2.375.
He’s been almost unrecognizable from the pitcher that was among the most effective relievers in the game for most of the previous five years.
But since he gave up a series-altering homer to the Mets Pete Alonso in the wild card round last October and Williams’ ensuing trade to the Yankees, the right-hander hasn’t produced.
“You work for years to get to that point,’’ Williams said of being a closer. “To have that taken away is not fun.”
Asked if he’s figured out any issues, Williams said, “It’s just a matter of conviction with the pitches I’m throwing.”
And there’s no remedy other than pitching in games: “There’s no real feedback until you get on the mound.”
He wasn’t called upon to pitch any of the seven innings Yankee relievers had to throw Sunday and Weaver pitched the ninth inning of their 5-1 win in the second game.
Weaver hasn’t allowed a run — and only eight baserunners — in 14 innings so far this season and said he’s happy pitching in any situation.
But the Yankees still hope Williams straightens himself out.
“He’s got everything to get through this and come out better on the other side and that’s my expectation,” Boone said. “But for right now, I feel it’s best for everyone that we pull him out of that role and just try to start building some good rhythm and confidence and momentum. I fully expect him to be a central figure for us moving forward.”
In what capacity, though, remains to be seen.
“My biggest concern now is to put up zeroes,’’ Williams said of if he expected to get the role back. “We can have that conversation then.”
Williams has been booed on multiple occasions by the unforgiving Stadium crowd this season and has seemed uncomfortable since arriving to the Yankees.
He’s given up far more hits and walks than he usually does and his strikeout rate has plummeted. Although April is typically Williams’ toughest month of the season, he’s never pitched this poorly and neither his four-seamer or his infamous changeup have been overpowering.
Asked about the difficulty some players have of playing in The Bronx, Boone said: “I think there’s that adjustment and Devin really has been nothing but successful at the major league level. I’m sure there is some shock, getting settled with a new team, a new environment. My reminder to him was, ‘You have all the equipment to do this at an elite level.’
“That’s still the reality. Nobody likes [being booed], but that’s what you’ve got to do as a big leaguer. You’ve got to deal with external factors that can leak in and have an effect on you.”