The New York Yankees’ new closer, Devin Williams, made his spring training debut in the club’s 12-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday, giving New York players and fans alike the chance to see his famed “airbender” pitch for the first time.
Williams did not disappoint. The airbender is his version of a changeup in that it plays off his fastball, but really, it’s unlike any traditional pitch. Yankees manager Aaron Boone called it a “combination of a forkball, knuckleball, changeup.”
Williams employed the pitch for the first time in 2025, using it to induce a swinging strikeout on J.T. Realmuto.
Devin Williams picks up a strikeout during a scoreless one-inning Yankees debut pic.twitter.com/OiR2h6uT5j
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) March 4, 2025
“I feel like it’s in a good spot,” Williams said of his famed pitch, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “I was kind of playing around with it today and had a good feel for it, so I’m happy.”
As foolish as he made Realmuto look on the pitch, Williams insists he doesn’t need a swing and a miss to know when the airbender is working.
“I don’t really need the swing to know that,” Williams said. “It’s kind of a feel thing. If it feels right, I usually know. Then we look at the computer, and it tells me that it’s doing what it’s supposed to do.”
Yankees players left in awe of Devin Williams’ airbender pitch
It’s not just fans who marvel at the ridiculous movement on the airbender. Williams’ teammates and coaches were also eager to see it employed in a game situation.
“The bottom just falls out of it,” Boone said of the pitch. “It just dies at the plate.”
Williams’ catcher, Austin Wells, has as good a view of the pitch as anyone, and he was similarly awed.
“It doesn’t really do the same thing every time,” he said. “It’s a hard pitch to try and match a swing to, and it has different speeds and movement. It’s a great pitch; that’s what makes him so good.”
Ben Rice, who is competing for the Yankees’ backup catcher role, caught Williams in a bullpen session earlier this spring and told Hoch that the two-time All-Star “has a gift.”
“Usually, when guys throw changeups, you take a little spin off your fastball,” he said. “He spins it really high, which means it’s going to look white coming in. That’s what a fastball looks like out of the hand. His changeup mirrors that, like a cue ball that is so white and looks so good, then it falls off and fades away.”
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