Betances Considered Playing College Basketball Before Signing With Yankees

After watching him pitch as nicely as he has in 2014, you'd probably not think of Yankees' Reliever Dellin Betances as much of a basketball player.

The 26-year-old rookie, 4-0 with a 1.43 ERA in 44 innings so far this season, has easily been one of the most reliable men in the Yanks' bullpen, a pretty big statement when that group already contains guys like David Robertson and Shawn Kelley.

But yes, it is true that coming out of high school Betances considered a career in America's third most popular sport, even going as far as to say he "definitely" would've been able to play Division II.

"I felt like I could play at least college," Betances told the Newark Star Ledger's Brendan Kuty before the Yanks lost to the Blue Jays yesterday. "I mean, I would have definitely played D II. But D I would have been tough."

In last night's defeat, Betances tossed a pair of big scoreless innings, with the latter of them (the bottom of the eighth) featuring a bases loaded, one out jam.

Fortunately for the Bombers, the always-confident right-hander was able to escape that mess without allowing a run, again proving how smart his decision to play baseball was, as he's clearly pretty good at it.