Yankees’ Devin Williams Declares He’s a One-Inning Guy

New York traded for Williams during the offseason, knowing full well that he had actively prevented the Brewers from using him for more than one inning at a time on several occasions over the past handful of seasons.

On Wednesday, Williams again reiterated his stance about being a one-inning guy, saying, “I feel like the bullpen works better when guys are going one inning.” While that isn’t as hardline a statement as he had made during his Milwaukee days, it is yet another instance of Williams hamstringing his team due to his somewhat selfish belief.

Gossage, Fingers and Eckersley used to routinely pitch multiple innings at a time. Rivera, who was mostly a one-inning closer because that’s what the role had evolved into, was nonetheless used for more than one inning on many occasions and had no problem with it.

For Williams, this is another example of his unwillingness to put the team above himself. Even Luke Weaver, who Williams has supplemented as the Yankees’ closer, had willingly pitched more than one inning at a time on multiple occasions since first being named closer midway through last season.

By being a self-declared one-inning guy, Williams is making the Yankees’ need for bullpen help even more apparent, as it is currently falling to other relievers to cover innings he could have and should have pitched.