A lot has been made over Dellin Betances’ inability to hold and subsequently throw out runners after the March 31st fiasco and his inconsistently in trying to hold leads since then.
Single. Steal second. Steal third. Then steal HOME. @KPILLAR4 doing it all himself. pic.twitter.com/C7OfsCKhCw
— MLB (@MLB) March 31, 2018
The Yankees and more specifically Joe Girardi when he was the manager used Dellin Betances a lot. Dellin has always struggled with inconsistency dating back to his days as a starter. Many people forget about the fact that Dellin was apart of the “Killer B’s” of Betances Andrew Brachman (who’s no longer in baseball) and Manny Banuelos (who was the Yankees top prospect a decade ago).
Betances has been the only one to stick around because he was able to reinvent himself as a reliever. As a reliever his two pitch mix works extremely well if he is able to throw both his high 90’s fastball and his breaking ball for strikes. So far this season Betances has struggled to get his fastball over for strikes consistently thus prompting opposing batters to wait for his breaking ball in the zone. No matter how good a pitch is if the hitter knows it’s coming he can hit it. And his breaking ball is a very good pitch when set up properly.
Dellin Betances, Filthy 87 mph Knuckle Curve. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/ubQoeue1sW
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 6, 2018
Dellin is nearing his last life with the Yankees and if he continues to struggle with consistency he may not be able to stick in the Majors for much longer after that. However, Dellin has the talent and the “stuff” to be a dominate late inning reliever in the Major Leagues.
Dellin Betances🇩🇴 lanzó una entrada en blanco retirando los tres bateadores por la vía del ponche #latinosbeisbol @DBetances68 #dellinbetances pic.twitter.com/zNapOAeBJf
— LatinosBeisbol (@LatinosBeisbol) April 6, 2018
It all comes down to command for Dellin, what plagued him as a starter has now come back again to rear it’s ugly head for him as a relief pitcher. Command and consistency are the staples of a great relief ace. Thinking back to Mariano Rivera, and in no way am I comparing Dellin to Mariano, but what made Mo so great way year in and year out he was consistent. You knew what you were gonna get from Mo. With Dellin we are unsure which Betances we are going to get. If Dellin can regain confidence and command of his fastball everything else will straighten itself out. We have all seen what Betances is capable of, now it is up to Dellin to figure it out.
