In a sport as demanding as baseball, there are many greats, but to be consistently great means you’re the best at your position. As stars roam the field and excel under the brightest lights in all of sports, it makes you wonder how long these players can maintain their hot momentum, because in a matter of seconds, everything can change.

I have two pitchers in particular that I want to focus this article on who seemingly switched places in terms of dominance and luck. One was a dominant closer for the past five years who seemingly became overshadowed by one of the worst pitches he’s made in his career in the most important game of his life and the other is taking advantage of his opportunities after being traded and DFA’d in the same season.

I am referring to the two anomalies in New York City: Devin Williams, the closer for the New York Yankees, and Griffin Canning, the starter for the New York Mets. You might think I should be writing about Pete Alonso instead of Griffin Canning—after all, he’s the one who hit the go-ahead homer off Devin Williams in Game 3 of the 2024 National League Wild Card Series. Alas, I am not.

That said, it’s worth mentioning how electric Alonso has been to start the season. He’s off to the best start of his career in the orange and blue, and a slash line of .328/.450/.635 will certainly do the trick! But Pete Alonso has always been a great player for the Mets, but Griffin Canning has never been a league average pitcher for the Angels.

Griffin Canning, on the other hand, has never posted an ERA below 4.32 over a full season. So, to focus solely on Alonso’s improved slash line without acknowledging the absurdity of both of New York’s pitching stories would be a crime against baseball humanity!

Let’s start with Devin Williams, who earned his stripes as a closer for the Milwaukee Brewers after posting a ridiculous 0.33 ERA in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. That year, he went 4–1 over 27 innings and recorded a jaw-dropping 1375 ERA+, earning him the NL Rookie of the Year award with over 63% of the first-place votes.

Following that breakout, Williams became a lockdown setup man for Josh Hader, forming one of the most dominant bullpen duos in baseball. When Hader was traded to the Padres in 2022, Williams stepped up as the Brewers’ full-time closer.

By the time he was dealt to the Yankees this past offseason, Williams had built up an impressive career résumé: 241 appearances, 8.9 WAR, 27 wins, 97 games finished, 68 saves, and a stellar 1.83 ERA across six seasons.

Fast forward now and Williams is experiencing the worst stretch of baseball he never thought he would have. In just 15 games this year he is bottom of the league in everything for bullpen statistics, posting a negative 0.9 WAR, an absimal 9.24 ERA, 1-2 record and only 4 saves. He has been taken out of the closer role as Boone gave back the honor to Luke Weaver who is off to his best start in the bullpen posting a 0.53 ERA in 17 innings with 3 saves and 1.1 WAR.

You can blame alot of things for the reasons why Williams isn’t the same pitcher anymore, it could be an adjustment thing to playing in the Bronx as many great players simply cannot play in the big apple, or you could be a little wild and say its due to him not shaving his beard under the new Yankees policy that may have been the reason for this voodoo like loosing streak or you can be honest to yourself and say that ever since game three of the wild card against the Mets he completely lost all confidence after tipping one pitch to Pete Alonso which ended up sending his career down a spiral. There are many excuses you can go towards but at the end of the day, the Yankees did not get what they traded for. The hype is dead and the excuses are piling up. He simply is not the same pitcher he was anymore.

As for the other side of New York, Griffin Canning has taken his one year five million dollar deal and ran with it. He has been more than the Mets could ever ask out of a pitcher who’s never been more than a #4 in a rotation. Up to this point, Griffin Canning has posted a 1.0 WAR in 7 games started, averaging a 2.50 ERA, tied for first in the national league with five wins, posting a 5-1 record. For a Mets staff that has seen their two of their free agent pitchers hit the IL before the season even began in Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea, what Canning has provided to the Mets is truly generational.

In Canning’s last season with the Angels he was looked at as the worst pitcher in MLB. He had a 5.19 era and a 6-19 record which accounted for a .316 winning percentage. In his most games started season with 32 he also accounted for the most earned runs in the leaguer (99) as well as 105 runs and 31 homers. The Mets knew they could turn him around, with Canning spending more time with Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, Canning implemented a new pitch called the kick change as well as throwing his fast ball less has shown great results. Canning’s worst pitch recorded last year was his fast ball, after relying less on his four-seam fastball which was 37.4% last year with the Angels he has reduced it to 33.5% this season.

This shift indicates a strategic change in his pitching approach. In 2024, while with the Angels, Canning relied more heavily on his fastball. However, after joining the Mets in 2025, he has diversified his pitch mix, increasing the use of his slider and a modified changeup.

With a more diverse pitch selection Canning has revamped himself as a major league pitcher and redefined the expectations teams have for him. To put it in easy terms, a kick change is a modified changeup. It features all the mechanics of a changeup and generates the same spin rate but has vertical splitter movement and is thrown harder. When used the right hander’s kick change resembles that of a left hander’s curveball.

To begin the season, he was expected to serve as a bulk-innings relief pitcher. But given the promise he’s shown, there’s no way the Mets will move on from him just to make room for two veteran arms who haven’t thrown a pitch in the majors this year. Canning, who was originally traded from the Angels to the Braves as a throw-in to offload salary in the Jorge Soler deal, was designated for assignment less than a week later. The Mets picked him up for just $5 million, and it’s already looking like one of the steals of the season. Initially, I feared Canning would break out against the Mets in Atlanta. Instead, he’s become an anchor in the back end of their rotation — and without him, this team wouldn’t be in the position it is today.

“You have guys that are maybe looking for a job or they’re incentivized to try something new, and they get it to work and then it spreads like wildfire,” Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “It’s a copycat league. It’s always been a copycat league.”

From an annual All-Star closer and one of the most premier faces of pure dominance in the bullpen to now a depleted version of himself, Devin Williams has experienced a complete 180 from the threat he once was. As for Canning, the time spent in the Mets’ pitching lab has paid off in dividends for the team. Ultimately, to be a winning organization, you have to take risks — and that’s exactly what both the Yankees and Mets did. However, while their predictions for their new acquisitions turned out to be on opposite ends of the spectrum, it’s essential to recognize the sheer dominance that MLB players bring to the field every day. Even with an impressive track record, the reality remains that tomorrow is a new day, and players can’t live off past successes alone. Track records can deceive the eye; it’s not just about the weapon itself, but how the team builds off that development and adapts for the future.