Despite the New York Yankees' 14-9 record to start the 2025 season, much of the pitching staff has had a rough go of it. Closer Devin Williams might be the poster child for the team's early season struggles on the mound, but he has the support of his manager, Aaron Boone.

The first-year Yankee has made nine appearances of one inning or less and retired the side in order only once. He's coming off his worst outing of the year on Saturday when he blew a save against the Tampa Bay Rays by giving up four runs on four hits with a walk. He now sports a 9.00 ERA and 2.250 WHIP.

Boone believes Williams will quickly be able to turn it around.

“The stuff's good and the stuff will probably continue to tick up even a little bit,” Boone said on the Talkin' Yanks podcast on Tuesday. “He's still really, really good and that's what the stuff is showing us. … Devin's going to be fine.”

He also insisted that Williams, who has a much more respectable 3.66 FIP, has been the victim of some bad luck.

“[Williams] had about as unlucky of one as you can have the other day,” he said of his game against the Rays. “I know it's noisy early here in the season … but break down the outing. … I mean that's just not bouncing your way.”

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Fernando Cruz has been an early revelation for the Yankees

New York Yankees pitcher Fernando Cruz (63) throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
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While the Yankees' closer has struggled, fellow new acquisition Fernando Cruz has thrived early on. Acquired from the Cincinnati Reds in the Jose Trevino trade, Cruz has been stellar, striking out 19 and allowing three runs over 12 innings.

The last two years as a regular out of the Reds' bullpen, Cruz had a combined 4.88 ERA.

The righty credits the turnaround to a deep dive he did with the Yankees' staff in spring training to tweak his mechanics.

“I’m really confident right now in all my pitches,” Cruz told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “Everything we worked on in spring training for six weeks, it’s paying off. Thank God I took those six weeks to work on my craft for the first time. I actually did not worry about the numbers, because I was doing a lot of changes at the same time.”