October 5: The Brewers announced Williams underwent successful hand surgery today (as reported by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt). The star reliever is currently in a splint and will rehab in the Brewers’ Arizona facility. Provided rehab goes as expected and the Brewers advance past their NL competition it’s possible Williams will be an option for the team during the World Series.
September 29: Brewers reliever Devin Williams is going on the 10-day injured list with a right hand fracture, the team informed reporters (including Adam McCalvy of MLB.com and Will Sammon of the Athletic). The injury is expected to require surgery and is likely to end his season, although Milwaukee isn’t completely ruling out the possibility he could return for the World Series if the club were to win the National League pennant.
It’s an incredible blow to the Brewers’ postseason plans, as few relievers in baseball have been better than Williams over the last two years. The right-hander broke into the majors late in 2019, but he logged few enough innings to retain rookie eligibility in 2020. Last season, Williams absurdly allowed just one earned run (four runs total) over 27 innings while striking out a laughable 53% of opposing hitters. That showing earned him the National League’s Rookie of the Year and Reliever of the Year awards.
It’d have never been reasonable to expect Williams to continue to dominate at quite that level again, but he’s posted another phenomenal season for the Brew Crew. Over 54 innings, he’s worked to a 2.50 ERA with a 38.5% strikeout rate that checks in seventh among the 249 relievers with 30+ frames. Williams had been expected to pair with Josh Hader to log the club’s highest-leverage postseason innings, but they’ll now have to navigate the playoff field (at least the first couple series) without one of their top bullpen weapons.
That’d be a crushing enough blow on its own, and the manner in which Williams got hurt only adds to the shock. He told reporters he suffered the injury after punching a wall on Sunday (video via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). He learned about its severity when he was unable to warm up before last night’s game. Williams’ dejection and disappointment in himself is obvious in that clip, and his potential season-ending absence was certainly similarly deflating news for the rest of the clubhouse.
The Brewers have already clinched the NL Central title, where they’ll meet up with the NL East winner (the Braves, in all likelihood) in the first round. In addition to Hader, manager Craig Counsell will have Hunter Strickland, Jake Cousins and Brent Suter as key end-of-game options. It’s also likely a productive member or two of the Brewers’ vaunted starting rotation (Adrian Houser, Brett Anderson and/or Eric Lauer) will work out of the pen as Milwaukee shortens the rotation to maximize the number of innings logged by Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff. It’s still a very strong group of arms, but there’s no sugarcoating that losing Williams deals a significant blow that’ll force most of the rest of the staff up a peg in the pecking order.
To replace Williams on the active roster, Milwaukee selected veteran righty Colin Rea from Triple-A Nashville, designating utilityman Tim Lopes to clear a 40-man roster spot. Rea signed a minors deal last month and has performed well over seven starts. Through 35 2/3 frames with the Sounds, the 31-year-old has a 2.27 ERA with a solid 24.6% strikeout percentage and a minuscule 2.8% walk rate.
That earns Rea his first big league look of the season. The former Padres and Marlins hurler didn’t appear in the majors at all from 2017-19, but he made it back for a brief look with the Cubs last season. He tossed fourteen innings of nine-run ball with Chicago, striking out ten while issuing just a pair of walks.
Rea was in the organization by August 31, so he would be eligible for the Brewers’ postseason roster. Players in the system but not on the 40-man roster at the start of September can still be added to the playoff roster via petition to the Commissioner’s Office for teams with players unavailable due to injury. Considering Rea is coming up as a direct replacement for Williams, the Brewers should have no problem getting him onto the postseason roster if they’re impressed enough with his current form to want to do so.
Why do pitchers keep doing this?
Because walls keep getting in the way.
Ha!
Hahahaha
Former A’s pitcher Jesus Luzardo did the same but playing a video. Oakland got tired baby sitting Luzardo and traded him to the Marlins so they can finalize raising the promising young hurler.
Darn!
White Sox were so looking forward to beating him badly in World Series!!
They won’t beat the Astros
There’s a Tony LaRussa drinking joke in there somewhere.
There’s always a Tony LaRussa drinking joke to be had
Lmao that you think the Sox are going to WS..
The Giants will beat them all I think. I am a Cubs fan but man they are good.
I feel for Brewers fans on this. As a Braves fan Ynoa doing a similar thing could’ve cost the team the season. I understand these guys are young and foolish but there really needs to be consequences on these things.
Oh for crying out Christmas
“3, 2, 1 / 1, 2, 3 — what the heck is bothering me?”
Another impact of Family Matters on my life. That saying definitely doesn’t work — if you watch the video tape, Devin utters that a minute before punching the wall. I feel ya, Dev. Didn’t work for Carl Winslow either.
Explains your love life.
Right? I need your photographer.
3, 2, 1. 1, 2, 3. What the heck is bothering me?… YOU!!!
Punching a wall smh.
Wtf he punch a wall on Sunday for? He came in, pitched an inning with 0 runs and got a K. Brewers won the game, clinched the central….
…why was a wall punched? (I get the jokes part of it….but I’m seriously wondering why here)
That punch may have cost his team any chance of winning in October. HUGE loss
Luke Barker time!
They’ll beat the Braves in four without him.
because he plays in Milwaukee
Got drunk during the celebration.
It is reported he drank to excess and then punched the wall. When celebrations go bad…
He said he was drunk.
Walls remain undefeated. Remarkably stupid thing to do – unfortunate.
You think they’re good in fights… you should see them play tennis.
November 9, 1989
Also,
Once Chuck Norris attempted to punch through a brick wall, but the brick wall crumbled in fear.
knucklehead…
Wuuuuuussssaaaaaa
He just said he was frustrated and upset after a few drinks? But why? Brewers just clinched and he played a big role in it.
twitter.com/todd_rosiak/status/1443312368348434436…
Maybe he’s an angry drunk??
The wall always wins, yet pitchers continue to feel otherwise. Like I said earlier this year when a couple other pitchers punched a wall or table and landed on the 60-day IL: clubs need to install thick padding on all hard surfaces of dugouts, tunnels, and clubhouses. Otherwise this is just gonna keep on happening.
Or players can stop punching walls.
^^^^^ THIS!!!
Great idea, and maybe they can install thick padding on Trevor Bauer’s girlfriends as well.
Wait, you mean his literal girlfriend, or the “girlfriend” he currently on leave for……
If walls don’t want to get banged, they should cover up more and not be so exposed to these men. When there is so much bare wall, how are they supposed to control themselves around such an enticement?
Maybe those that punch walls need to be inside padded 6×9 rooms instead? Pretty poor brain function to think the fist will move hard concrete.
This has to stop, Ynoa?
In addition to this being stupid, let’s also not forget that it’s extremely selfish. It’s not thinking about the ramifications at all.
Milwaukee has a prolific offense and blows teams out daily. Its not like they play a lot of close games and need their best set-up guy.
Milwaukee has the weakest offense of remaining playoff teams. They’ll definitely miss Williams come the NLDS and so on.
Wait… do what? They have no such thing.. their MVP has under performed, they are hit an miss at best offensively… honestly, their 3 headed monster as far as SP and the back 2 (now 1) is the reason they are in contention….
Yelich doesnt look right physically at all.
For a player of his caliber, in his prime only reasonable reason is something is wrong physically.
Crew cannot win a WS with Yelich being an avg or below avg player,
I mean, he’s Pete Davidson’s doppelgänger. I’m astounded he’s as good as he is. All he needs is that BDE.
Prolific offense? They have a team OPS+ of 90. That ties them with the Orioles for 23rd best in MLB, 23 points behind the Astros and Jays.
The only teams with a less prolific offense than the Brewers are the Royals, D’backs, Rockies, Rangers, Marlins, and Pirates. An OPS+ of 90 is only 8 points better than the, tied for worst, Marlins and Pirates.
I’m guessing bucsfan’s sarcasm wasn’t understood by some?
Just speaking for myself but,… uh…yeah… I think you’re right about that.
Prolific? I would say its a roller coaster offense.
Whoa. Some of you are wound way too tight. Have a brew, your team is in the playoffs.
You got me. I missed the sarcasm in your post. My team may be in the PS, but they have the Dodgers on their tail. Of course I’m wound tight.
Got me too. I should have looked at who posted it a little closer.
Bucs fan was just making a funny. C’mon man!
bucsfan0004 –
You ever watch baseball? I can only hope that this is a weak attempt at trolling….otherwise you need to be put in a room with rubber walls
2nd straight year he’s missed their playoff run
I though the brewers had only one El stupido, not two!
Roid rage and alcoholism gives you this type of person
Well, this comment may have just jumped the shark.
A’sfaninUK’s brain got eaten by a shark.
He’s in the UK. Give him a break. You can’t expect much
Never had the brain to begin with
At least when Kevin Brown did it it was with his non-pitching hand.
Punch out……..for the season!
Somewhere Crash Davis weeps…
What a colossally stupid thing to do. And calling it colossally stupid is a compliment for him.
“…he likely suffered the injury after punching a wall on Sunday.”
Only “likely”? What else did he do on Sunday after the game that could have caused it?
Nerdrage
Maybe pornhub was too much for him.
what an idiot. wow. teammates can not be happy at all. they’ve clinched a postseason birth, won the division, and you’re still punching the wall in the remaining games of the year before postseason.
The postseason is having babies now?
Well they do have an extra wild card round now so technically… yes?
Teams, if they don’t already, need to consider punching bags in the clubhouse. let these guys punch the crap out of that.
Or… Grown men being paid exorbitant amounts to play a boy’s game could get all responsible and everything…
That’s obviously the easier option, but it’s not going to happen. You can say it should all you want, but I think experience has showed us it’s not going to.
I’m not sure a punching bag would actually help though, it seems like most of the times that players do this, they’re being irrational, so thinking to go punch a punching bag probably isn’t something they’re going to do.
Straight up stupid. Phillies should trade for him.
Bam bam. Ouch.
Almost as bad as Arron Boone or Bobby Ojeda.
When’s the next Mensa meeting in Milwaukee?
Dumb ass
What an absolute numbskull.
Sure he hurt his hand, but you should see the wall.
The concrete laughed at the drunk idiot on the floor
that’s a shame, curious what kind of impact it makes (if any) at American Family Field in the postseason.
At least there will be baseball there, unlike Squiggly Field.
Amazing how they don’t think about their teammates on this kind of crap.
Alcohol is awesome, isn’t it?
Will He Be Ready For Spring Training Next Year?
How Will His Performance Be Affected?
His performance won’t be affected. He’ll just hold the beer with his other hand.
If the mountains are blue, he could just hold the beer instead of using ice.
Teams should start withholding pay when guys go on the IL in such a manner.
In most cases insurance handles it
Stupid.
Sure is.
Yet, I thoroughly understand that level of frustration with oneself. Tell ya; the heavy bag has done wonders for my personal tranquility.
As much as I agree with your point, I still don’t think it’s a great idea to be punching the heavy bag while drinking, especially with your valuable pitching hand.
Chipsss, I don’t think that’s what Ducky meant – I believe Ducky’s heavy bag is a metaphor or analogy for Williams to have a healthy, non-destructive outlet for anger, especially when one (and one’s entire team to the extent applicable) relies on one’s hands for a career.
& always use gloves, fellas. *Especially* after a couple beers. But…I was being literal, Clip.
I’ve found the heavy bag to be cheap therapy.
In the end, irrational emotion trumps rational thought.
Every time.
I can relate, when I got my promotion at work I got so excited that I started punching the wall and broke my hand. If I could take it back I would.
Congrats on the promotion. Sorry about the hand.
It would have been a much better story if he had punched Taylor Walls instead of dugout walls.
I thought the ’82 Brewers were Harvey’s Wallbangers.
Are you an angry drunk should be part of every scout’s appraisal.
Memo to all Major League pitchers…pins and needles, needles and pins…
youtube.com/watch?v=BgopEnmFEGo
If you could fine a player for being stupid, this would be the time. What a complete moron.
Failed the idiot test.
First of all, playing Russian roulette with studs and pipes in walls, and hitting walls in general, is beyond stupid. But the bigger issue here is unchecked anger. If someone has anger issues, it’s so important to learn how to resolve them mentally without resorting to anything physical. There are great books for this, and knowing how to control anger (and other emotions which can potentially be harmful to your existence, such as jealousy or sore loser) are essential to quality of life. “Dances with Anger” by Lerner is one such book that all who care should read. Williams actions are inexcusable. He is a tiny little man whose selfishness could easily cost the Brewers a shot at the title as well as a ton of money,
Think of a mlb stadium. Is it drywall, or concrete?
Spoiler. It’s concrete
I dunno, I find running to be very therapeutic for pretty much all things I’d consider, “mental”, so I’d say there are some physical ways to resolve it.
Brewers are one of the few teams in baseball to have two elite relievers. That still have a WS shot but he made it much more difficult.
He let the fans down, this teammates down and ownership down.
Damn, this sucks. They are one of the only teams in the playoffs that I don’t hate.
I know, the other one is the Yankees…am I right? I knew it!
lightweight, can’t handle his alcohol
While Boxberger has stunk recently, I don’t know how he doesn’t get a mention. Overall he’s been an important part of the bullpen. And no mention of Ashby either. He’ll get innings before Rea ever will.
Brewcats, which rotation arm do you think will get moved to the post-season bullpen? They have interesting options in Houser and Lauer.
I think it will be Lauer. It would be good to have another lefty in the pen. I think Houser has earned the #4 spot. Which I guess makes Anderson fourth lefty in the pen.
I guess my point is they can easily make up for Williams’ absence. More off days will be to their advantage. Depending on how the rotation shapes up later in October, you can see Burnes or Woodruff coming in to get three big outs in a Game 7.
I wouldn’t say easily, but I think this is by no means a crippling injury, figuratively or literally. I agree, it’s all hands on deck when it comes to late series games.
And I forgot that Ashby is a lefty, so the Brewers have a bevy of southpaws to choose from.
Another argument for having the DH in the NL. You’ve got to protect pitchers by not letting them hit, run, or punch walls. Pitchers can just have the DH punch the wall instead.
Maybe they can negotiate a DWP (Designated Wall Puncher) into the next CBA?
what an idiot!!! haha you can’t hang
The WALL withstands yet another fools blow….only if gatorade jugs could hold their juice there might be competition
Channeling his inner Hunter Strickland i see…
luzardo for recent comp, but Strickland is solid as well.
They are teammates right now, so i think it works
No one will call Devin the “Wallbender”
I hope he’s hit with a non-baseball injury filing. No reason the Brewers should pay this idiot.
He went to the Huascar Ynoa school of karate.
I fought the wall, and the wall won, I fought the wall, I fought the wall, I fought the wall, and the wall won.
Williams would’ve fit in with the Brew Crew’s 1982 club “Harvey’s WallBangers”. All kidding aside, this is a tough blow for a squad that will still be one the NL favorites this postseason.
I just want to know if it’s the same wall that took Ynoa down
Now let’s see, if the Atlanta Braves clinch their playoff spot then it’s Braves as of today with 771 runs scored as opposed to 723 for the Brewers, and Braves 644 runs conceded as opposed to Brewers 593. roughly a 50 run differential that’s cancelled out on both sides. Braves have hit 232 home runs, Brewers 190. Braves have k’d 1406 times, Brewers 1409 times, negligible difference in K’s, 42 HR difference, 535 BB for the Braves, 576 for the Brewers, Braves 1266 hits, Brewers 1211 hits, Braves 279 doubles & triples combined, Brewers 260 combined.
Braves pitchers 1380 K’s, Brewers 1585 K’s.
Braves Whip 1.25 and a 3.92 ERA Brewers 1.18 Whip and 3.41 ERA
Braves 1365 IP Brewers 1395 IP.
Those stats tell you there’s not a great deal in it, winning the big moments will decide that series.
@Fred McGriff, Don’t forget that teams used more pitchers than ever this season. That probably changes those numbers somewhat.
Also, with the extra days off in the playoffs, teams don’t have to go as deep into their post-season staff. And they can shift a starter to the bullpen. It’ll be interesting to see how these teams go about it. If the series goes five, it’s possible the Brewers bring their Game 2 starter (Burnes or Woodruff) out of the bullpen to get some key outs in the late innings. Granted, the Braves can do the same thing with Morton, who had post-season success as a reliever for the Astros in 2017.
It’s an intriguing matchup that, as you said, should be dictated by big moments. Man for man, the Braves seem to have more hitters who are capable of a hot stretch. Appropriate as well since this is the year we lost Henry Aaron. He has a statue at both ballparks.
Maybe he bet on that Packers game and lost(or won) If somebody said i bet you GB doesn’t win with 37secs left and no timeouts.
Inexcusable. What an idiot.
Karma…
Baseball needs robo-players. Nowadays, everyone is getting injured. The league’s top plater couldn’t even play half a season. What ever happened to the Mickey Mantles of the world who injure themselves but go on to have mega star careers?
MLB, dump the injury-prone humans and hire some robots.
Players are better today. Seriously.
Better at getting injured.
We need the designated hitter in the NL. For $1M, I could hit the wall instead of Williams.
No, we need robots as we are finding out players are too weak.
Complete idiot. He gets immensely well played to play a game and he does that? Zero sympathy for stupid decisions.
Wow how careless.
What a selfish moron
Per MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, Williams said that he had too much to drink during the celebration and punched a wall on his way home.
“I had a few drinks. On my way home, I was a little frustrated, upset and I punched a wall,” Williams said. That’s how it happened.”
=======================================
Maybe that’s the way it happened, but it sounds a little sketchy to me. He was celebrating, but frustrated and upset at the same time?
I would get upset too celebrating getting in the MLB playoffs. Oh no wait a minute. OK nevermind…………………………..he is a moron
Punched a wall on the way home?
I was going to question that also, but it was already pretty fishy.
My spouse is kind enough to pick me up from my occasional drunken outing. Between being picked up, and getting home, do you know how many walls I run into? -0-. He would kind of have to live within walking distance to a pub, where he out celebrating, then find a wall to punch.
Otherwise, what wall is he punching?
Man, hate when we clinch a playoff spot. Hopefully next year that doesn’t happen.
There’s got to be more to this story. My guess is it will come out eventually.
key phrases, broke into the majors, crushing enough blow. hand was just following along
sheep got sheered
Pretty crazy that someone gets so angry at a celebration. Maybe someone insulted his mom and said something like “your mommy is an astronaut” 🙂
Wow, not a single post from FeverPitchGuy. Guess he draws the line at wall punching.
Ryan Braun told me the sample collector hurt Williams’ hand.
Lame comment
Thanks for your well thought out reply. Just a dig at a fan base which fully embraces a cheater that decided to, cowardly, blame an innocent guy, instead of just manning up and owning his mistake.
Your statement just isn’t true. As a crew fan I would have loved to see them move on from him… but since his contract was guaranteed how could a small market team afford to just let him go?
I get it, papi. Blanket statements are dumb, I’m sure a lot of other folks disapproved, as well. Good luck in the playoffs.
MikeyHammer –
Really stupid. And about as worn out and unoriginal as a comment could be. You don’t even need a brain to say something that stupid
@slide…..What is it with you and sheep?
And here I was, as a Giants fan, most worried about meting the Brewers. What a clown, he lets his whole team down.
Great way to let down your team before a playoff run.
Hall of Famer Al Kaline did something somewhat similar to this, but in anger in 1967. Cost him a few months, and his Detroit Tigers lost the pennant literally at the season’s last moment. You may blame the Kaline incident if you are of such a mind.
This act of titanic stupidity has been done before. The biggest joke of it, is that it will inevitably happen again, possibly to a legend. My all time favorite of my least-favorite of these in-uniform-non-game-action injuries was to Kendrys Morales. Of course.
I do not believe this latest fracture will be sufficiently fateful to cost his employer the pennant as did the late, great 6.
Not as bad as Cespedes chasing after or running from a wild boar on his ranch…
Obviously, he never watched the movie “Bull Durham.” Crash Davis: “When you get in a fight with a drunk, you don’t hit them with your pitching hand. God! I can’t keep giving you these free lessons.”
World series? What will he be attending as a guest of mookie betts or kris bryant?
The updated headline made me laugh
Another rocket scientist posing as an MLB pitcher. Nothing like an integral part of your team doing something completely stupid right when you’re gonna need him the most.
may return in world series?!?? lol
hahahahahahaha, to go watch someone else to play at BW3’s?!?? lol
Won’t be your team, since they didn’t even make the playoffs.
No need to worry about that, brewers are not even going to beat the awful braves
No worries Brewers. You won’t be in the World Series.
Oh, are the Brewers in the World Series?
Ah yes, let’s go ruin my whole career and a chance to earn $ by punching my hand to a wall.