Freak injury crushes hopes for Betances
Dellin Betances’ season lasted two hitters. In his excitement after working his way back from two significant injuries and missing the first 150 games of the season, Betances tore his left Achilles tendon celebrating a strikeout Sunday in Toronto. The reliever, who battled his way back from multiple shoulder issues and then a strained lat, will miss the rest of the season.
“When he jumped off the mound, I think he came down a little awkwardly. I don’t think he felt anything, didn’t even say anything at the time. When he came in today, he was just sore,” Aaron Boone said. “Kind of going through some tests, he couldn’t do some things like getting up on his tiptoes. So, we were going to hold him out then we decided we get some imaging on it and it revealed the partial tear. Obviously, heartbroken for Dellin, knowing he was working so hard to get to this point and be a factor for us and having successfully debuted for us the other day and now this.”
The initial diagnosis called for treating the tear “conservatively,” but surgery could not be ruled out, the team announced. Betances was to get a second opinion from Dr. Martin O’Malley, the renowned specialist who did the surgery of Nets star Kevin Durant.
Sunday, Betances came in to start the fourth inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Blue Jays. He struck out Reese McGuire and Brandon Drury, after his final strikeout he jumped off the mound — thinking it was the end of the inning. “Obviously frustrating as about as freak as it can be. But we deal with, we’ve dealt with a lot of things this year and this is another one and we’ll support Dellin as best we can through this,” Boone said. “He’s a big part of this moving forward.”
Zack Britton said he was nauseous when he heard the news. He suffered a complete tear in December of 2017
“I thought mine was career ending. I thought Achilles rupture and I thought I was done playing. The doctor told me he was going to have me back and I was going to be fine,” Britton said. “That’s what I told Dellin ‘You’re going to be back. You’re going to be pitching again. It sucks right now, but you put in the work.’ He put the work in to get back, he’ll do it again.”
The season is over before it ever really got going for Betances, who is a free agent after this season.
He struggled to build up strength in the shoulder all spring. It showed in his velocity, his fastball lagging into the high 80’s and touching 95 once. After weeks of waiting for his normal dead arm to shake off, Betances was initially diagnosed with an impingement and treated for inflammation in the final week of spring. During his second ramp-up of the year, doctors discovered a bone spur in his shoulder, one they had been aware of since they initially signed him, was causing discomfort.
During his rehab from those issues, Betances strained his lat muscle.
He was one of a majorleague record 30 players the Yankees have had on the injured list this season. This is just the latest blow to a team that has been through the ringer with injuries.
“We’ve been one of the best teams in the sport all season and our bullpen has been one of the overwhelming strengths of this club. That doesn’t change,” Boone said. “There is no denying the impact Dellin has. He’s been one of the handful of best relievers in the game for several years now, we know how great he is and what a difference maker he is.”