Milwaukee Brewers: Why Devin Williams is so special

Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Devin Williams was outstanding in his 2020 NL Rookie of the Year campaign. Today we will go in depth as to what makes him so special.

Devin Williams made his major league debut for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2019 but with just 13 outings, 2020 still qualified as his rookie season. In the shortened 2020 season he made the absolute most of it by winning NL ROY.

In 22 outings Devin Williams posted:

• 27 IP
• 0.33 ERA
• 0.86 FIP
• 17.67 K/9
• 0.63 WHIP
• 27.8 Hard Hit %
• 51.8 Whiff %

These numbers were near or at the top among all relievers in most categories. These numbers are not lucky numbers either, as Williams performed just as well as all they suggest. The answer as to why he was able to be so amazing is simple.

His fastball/changeup combo is nearly unhittable. I really should say his changeup/fastball combo as he throws his changeup over 50% of the time which is a rarity.

Williams throws his changeup almost 53% of the time and throws the 4 seam fastball 43% of the time.

It is not often that you see someone use an off-speed pitch as their primary option, but you can’t argue with Devin Williams using his changeup as it is of the best pitches in all of baseball.

Opposing hitters hit only .032 against the changeup in 2020. There was a total of 2 hits against the changeup out of 227 thrown. Both of those hits were singles on top of that. Allowing no extra-base hits against it this year is an amazing stat.

These numbers are so low to begin with because hitters are lucky to just make contact against the pitch as over 77% of his strikeouts were with the changeup. The pitch also has a 61.1 Whiff % which shows hitters have generally no chance against Devin Williams when he throws his changeup.

It is also easy to see why hitters struggle so much against his changeup as the pure movement on the pitch is incredible.

The pitch averages almost 41 inches of vertical movement along with just over 18 inches of horizontal movement. These both rank among the top percentiles for changeups.

Devin Williams is able to pair this absolutely devastating with a very good fastball as well which averages over 96 MPH on the gun. With his changeup being about 84 MPH, that’s about a 12 MPH differential. This makes it so difficult for hitters to sit on the changeup as they always have to be geared up for the heat.

It is very clear now as to why Devin Williams is so special out of the bullpen and he should be a force for the Milwaukee Brewers for the foreseeable future. Devin Williams is one of the top arms out of the pen in the MLB today and is someone to keep an eye on in 2021 and beyond.