The New York Yankees may only have one more year left with one
of the most special relief pitchers to ever grace the game, in my opinion, so
let’s take full advantage of that and get the man they call Dealin’ Dellin a
ring, shall we? The Yankees are banking on strong starting pitching, a powerful
lineup and quite possibly the greatest and deepest bullpen in the history of
the game to achieve this, and that begins and ends with Betances. Betances, and
Chad Green as well, can come in when a starting pitcher has a short night, he
can come in as soon as the fifth or the sixth inning, he can pitch the seventh,
the 8th, and even the 9th. Hell, on some nights he could
pitch two or three of them, so let’s get reacquainted with possibly the most
integral part of the bullpen going forward this season, Mr. Dellin Betances.
Dellin Betances, 30-years old, is a right-handed relief
pitcher for the New York Yankees that some would consider to be a “fire man.” Dellin
has a 98 MPH four-seam fastball, an 86 MPH curveball, and a rarely thrown 90
MPH changeup that he uses to get himself (in and) out of trouble while on the
mound. Dellin, standing 6’8” and weighing 265 lbs., is a big strikeout and
groundball pitcher that plays extremely well inside Yankee Stadium, or any
stadium for that matter. Dellin, a “failed” starter, is truly a special arm out
of the bullpen for the Yankees and has been since arriving on the scene for
good in 2014.
Dellin Betances was born on March 23, 1988 in Washington
Heights, Manhattan to parents, Jaime and Maria Betances. Dellin’s parents immigrated
to the United Stated before Dellin was born from the Dominican Republic. Betances
attended Progress High School within the Grand Street Campus in Brooklyn, New
York and attended many Yankees games as a child, including David Wells perfect
game in 1998 when Dellin was just 10-years old. If it were not for his family
taking him to baseball games as a child Dellin may have chosen basketball over baseball
and credits his family for his decision. Dellin was already 6’4” in High School
and could throw over 90 MPH by the time he graduated, leading many to believe
that Dellin would be chosen in the first round of the 2006 MLB First Year
Player’s Draft. Dellin, like many pitchers before him, committed to pitching at
Vanderbilt University on a baseball scholarship, just in case, and announced
that he had a high signing bonus demand and a will to only pitch for the New
York Yankees. This led many teams to pass on Betances, but the Yankees took the
chance on the big right-hander in the 8th round of the 2006 Draft
and gave him $1 million to forego his commitment to the Commodores.
Betances began his professional career with the Staten Island
Yankees before being promoted to the Major Leagues for the first time on
September 8, 2011. Betances only made two appearances for the team that season
before spending the entire 2012 season back in Triple-A with the Scranton/Wilkes-barre
RailRiders. Betances, then a full-time starter, was shifted to the relief role
in 2013 and was back in the Major Leagues on August 11, 2013. Betances, now a
relief pitcher, made the Yankees Opening Day roster in 2014 and was elected to
his first All-Star Game in that same season. Betances would finish the 2014
season with 135 strikeouts as a rookie, finishing third in the AL Rookie of the
Year Award vote behind Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker and White Sox first
baseman Jose Abreu.
Betances was back in the All-Star Game in 2015 and back to
striking out opposing batters at an alarming rate, becoming the first reliever
to ever strike out 100 or more batters in consecutive seasons for the Yankees
on August 19th. Betances made a third straight All-Star Game in 2016
and for the third straight season the righty would strike out 100 batters,
finishing the season with 126 strikeouts after seeing fellow relievers Andrew
Miller and Aroldis Chapman traded for prospects, thus ending No Runs D.M.C. Dellin
once again made the All-Star Game for the American League in 2017 and even
threw an immaculate inning against the Detroit Tigers on August 2, 2017, striking
out the side in the eighth inning on the minimum of nine pitches. Dellin was
not selected as an All-Star in 2018, breaking his streak of four straight
appearances, and will look to build a new streak here in 2019. Truth be told,
though, In think Dellin would trade all four All-Star Game nods for just one
World Series ring, so let’s see if he can make that happen and if the Yankees
can accommodate that this season.
Dealin’ Dellin. The return in 2019.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)