The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Struggling Betances: When the lights come on, I’ll be ready to go
TAMPA, Fla. — Dellin Betances has a ready explanation for Sunday’s rough outing, struggling against a group of not-ready-forprime-time Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I felt like crap today, I didn’t really have energy out there,” Betances said. “Just one of those days.”
Tiring quickly on an 80-degree afternoon, Betances attributed it to pitching three times this week — the first time he’s done it this spring.
For now, this string of shaky exhibition outings hasn’t rattled Betances, nor has it set off alarms in the Yankees executive offices.
At least, his velocity was up a tick.
“I’m not really worried,” said Betances, who retired just one of the five batters he faced in Sunday’s 6-5 Yankees win at Steinbrenner Field. “I’ve just got to continue to build arm strength.
“Once the lights come on and we’ve got about 50,000 in the stands, I’ll be ready to go.”
Betances recalled his early 2014 spring training, when the radar gun registered his usually highoctane fastball in the 87 mph-91 mph range.
“What’s going on? You’re trying to make the team,” a concerned minor-league coach said to Betances, who replied: “It’s going to come.”
By May of that year, Betances had dialed up a 100-mph fastball and was headed to his first of four All-Star games.
This year, “I got a little late start, and we’re trying to catch up,” said Betances, who reported a week late to camp, to be present for the birth of his first child, a son.
Betances’ fastball was consistently at 93 mph on Sunday, still below his usual 97 mph-98 mph figures.
And he wasn’t fooling the minor-leaguers in the Pirates’ lineup, yielding a long, opposite-field double to Cole Tucker, an RBI single to Kevin Kramer (who also stole second base) and two walks.
Betances exited with the bases loaded, ultimately charged with two earned runs in one-third of an inning.
When Betances has lost his way in the past, it’s because the 6-foot-8 righthander was fouled up mechanically.
This time, Betances isn’t between two deliveries as he was in September of 2017, rendering him a nonfactor in that postseason.
“Today, I felt he tried to manufacture a little bit,” said manager Aaron Boone, feeling Betances was overcompensating for speed’s sake.
Even Betances conceded that he might have been “trying to get a little more” velocity and his command suffered for it.
In general, he couldn’t extend enough to finish his breaking pitches and he was yanking the fastball. He was gassed by the end, but not alarmed.
“For me, it’s gradual,” Betances said of his spring routine.
“When the arm speed comes, the breaking ball will be better and everything in general will be better,” Betances said. “It’s just a matter of building” arm strength.
The rest of Boone’s topflight bullpen had a stellar afternoon.
“That was pretty lightsout,” Boone said of Adam Ottavino striking out the side. “You know, when you see guys on defense running off, talking about how it’s not fair” to face the array of sliders and cutters Ottavino unleashes.
“That was a pretty showy performance.”
Closer Aroldis Chapman preceded Betances and tossed a scoreless inning with one strikeout, while Jonathan Holder and the improved Tommy Kahnle each threw 11⁄3 scoreless innings.
Zack Britton and Chad Green also had strong side sessions. But Ottavino was the star.
“His stuff is disgusting,” said Betances, a fellow New Yorker who has known Ottavino since he was 13. “(I) kind of went for a bathroom break and the next thing you know, he’s already done. Pretty insane.”
Starter J.A. Happ never wants to yield the mound, but “with the quality we have coming in behind you, that certainly feels good.
“You always kind of put yourself in those guys shoes, how it’d be like to pitch with their stuff,” Happ said. “I anticipate it being fun to watch.”