Devin Williams is finally ready for his 2024 debut, as the Brewers are reinstating the star closer from the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Janson Junk was designated for assignment to open up a spot for Williams on the 26-man and 40-man rosters.
An MRI during Spring Training revealed that Williams had two stress fractures in his back, and after a long period of recovery, he is set to return to a big league mound. Williams has logged four minor league rehab outings this month, tossing four scoreless innings during these last tune-ups. Despite his long layoff, this was apparently all the rehab work Williams and the Brewers felt was necessary, and he figures to see some action in Sunday’s game with the Marlins.
With the trade deadline on Tuesday, Williams’ return counts as an unofficial sort of midseason acquisition for the first-place Brewers. Even without their All-Star closer available, Milwaukee’s relief corps has still been one of the more effective units in the game, ranking third in bullpen ERA heading into Sunday’s action. Trevor Megill has posted a 2.41 ERA and 20 saves in Williams’ absence, but he’ll now drop back into a setup role as Williams returns to ninth-inning work.
Bryan Hudson has also been a key piece of the Brewers’ pen, but since he was just sidelined due to an oblique injury, Williams should be a more than suitable replacement. The Crew also acquired righty Nick Mears from the Rockies in a trade Saturday, further bolstering the relief corps for the stretch drive and (the Brewers hope) into October.
Williams made his MLB debut in 2019, delivering a 3.95 ERA over his first 13 2/3 innings of big league ball. After that respectable start to his career, the right-hander has been nothing short of tremendous, posting a sterling 1.75 ERA and a stunning 40.5% strikeout rate over 200 1/3 innings since the start of the 2020 season. An 11.7% career walk rate and a lack of premium velocity are issues, but Williams has otherwise been one of the game’s best at inducing soft contact and missing bats. Initially acting as the Brewers’ setup man behind Josh Hader, Williams has seamlessly transitioned into the closer’s job after Hader was dealt at the 2022 trade deadline.
The Brewers acquired Junk from the Angels as part of the Hunter Renfroe trade in November 2022, and the righty has a 5.87 ERA over 15 1/3 innings and seven overall appearances in a Milwaukee uniform. He spent almost all of the 2023 season in the minors and has been shuttled back and forth between Milwaukee and Triple-A Nashville this year.
Working mostly as a starter during his pro career, Junk was deployed primarily as a multi-inning reliever this season. Though Junk has only a 6.75 ERA in his eight innings of MLB work in 2024, his 2.55 ERA across 35 1/3 innings in Nashville indicates that he may have unlocked something with this semi-permanent move to the bullpen. This could make him a candidate to be claimed away by a team in need of bullpen innings, but if Junk does clear waivers, he doesn’t have the ability to reject an outright assignment. It also stands to reason that the Brewers could try and work out a trade involving Junk prior to the July 30 deadline.