This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy’s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MILWAUKEE -- Ten years ago today, on June 6, 2013, Devin Williams’ family and friends gathered at Mattingly's Sports Bar & Grill in Florissant, Mo., for an MLB Draft party that went deeper into the night than anyone had hoped.

“We sat there for, like, five hours and waited,” Williams said. “It was all my friends and family. I was told I would be going in the first round, and then it was damn near the end of the second round when I finally went.”

Williams fell to the Brewers at pick No. 54 and he signed 10 days later, beginning a baseball journey that tested him before he found success, from Tommy John surgery in 2017 to feeling so frustrated upon returning to the mound in ‘18 that he considered going home. That offseason, Williams did some hard thinking about whether he was all-in or all-out when it came to baseball, and he chose the former.

It was the right decision. The following year, Williams made the All-Star Futures Game and earned a callup to the big leagues. In 2020, he won the National League Rookie of the Year Award, followed by a successful first full Major League season in ‘21 and then an All-Star season in ‘22, all with a signature changeup so nasty it has a nickname, The Airbender.

The Brewers didn’t have a first-round pick in 2013 because they’d surrendered it to sign free agent pitcher Kyle Lohse.

That pick wound up going to the White Sox, who used it to select sensational shortstop Tim Anderson, who is among a number of stars to come from that Draft. Among the players selected that year were Kris Bryant (second overall by the Cubs), Jon Gray (third overall by the Rockies), J.P. Crawford (16th overall by the Phillies) Aaron Judge (32nd overall by the Yankees) and Williams, who is now cemented as Milwaukee’s closer.

On Draft Day, Williams, a product of Hazelwood (Mo.) West High School just outside St. Louis, didn’t expect to go to the Brewers.

“That was the last team I thought was going to take me,” Williams said. “I do remember [Brewers scout] Harvey Kuenn Jr. coming to the house to meet with me and my mom. And after the Draft, he told me that [then-scouting director] Bruce Seid and [longtime Brewers executive] Gord Ash had come to watch me pitch in our district final. I guess that was the game that they decided they were going to try and take me.”

What does he remember most about that night? That it was long. Very long.

And that there was a false start or two along the way. With the 44th overall pick, the Marlins drafted right-hander Trevor Williams, and with the 52nd pick, the D-backs drafted shortstop Justin Williams. Because there was music playing in the restaurant, it was difficult for Devin Williams’ family to hear the television, so some thought he’d been picked.

When the Brewers came along at pick No. 54, they could finally celebrate.

A decade later, has he reflected on his journey?

“I do sometimes,” Williams said. “It’s like, Pete [Strzelecki] cries about how long he was in the Minor Leagues. It’s like, dude, I was a month away from being a Minor League free agent when they called me up. And aside from 10 days in 2019, I haven’t gone back since.”

Asked how he’s changed since Draft Day, Williams said, “Maturity. Preparation. Things like that are completely different. When I got drafted, I thought that it was going to be easier than it was, you know? Then you get into pro ball and you find out what it really is. …

“You have to always continue to try and get better or people are going to pass you up. The league learns what you’re good at.”