TAMPA — If Dellin Betances pitched last spring like he has so far this exhibition season, he never would have gotten the chance to develop into an All-Star and become one of baseball’s premier relievers.
Nor be one of two candidates to replace departed closer David Robertson.
Instead, the 6-foot-8, 265-pound right-hander would have been optioned to the minor leagues and possibly be trying to salvage a career with another organization this spring.
After giving up a long homer to the Mets’ Juan Lagares in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s 7-2 Yankees loss, Betances’ spring stat line isn’t pretty. In six games Betances has worked 5¹/₃ innings, allowed seven hits, four earned runs, walked two and fanned four. And the velocity on his fastball has been hovering around 93 to 94 mph, although Wednesday only one of his six pitches in his first back-to-back situation of the spring got to 90 mph.
Those numbers follow a season in which Betances went 5-0 with a 1.40 ERA in 70 games. In 90 innings he allowed 46 hits, fanned 135, walked 24 and routinely got the fastball into the high 90s and reached triple-figures on several occasions.
So where did the velocity go? Is it part of being a power pitcher, a group that historically takes longer to develop arm strength? Or is there something working in the powerful right arm?
“I wasn’t thinking about [velocity],’’ said Betances, who hung a curveball to Lagares for the homer. “I know it will come no matter what. I am obviously frustrated. I have been in four games and given up a run [in each]. Today I felt better, but I haven’t been able to make better pitches. I have four more [outings] left and I will do whatever I can to be ready for the season.’’
With Robertson with the White Sox, Andrew Miller and Betances entered camp as the candidates to become the closer. Neither had a good day Wednesday pitching in consecutive games.
“It wasn’t a very good day for our bullpen, you are going to have those days,’’ manager Joe Girardi said after watching Miller give up a run and two hits in two-thirds of an inning following Betances. “[Betances] hung a breaking ball and that is something we didn’t see him do a lot last year. It’s still early and he is a power pitcher. We expect there is going to be more [velocity] at the end of spring training.’’
According to Girardi, Betances is throwing harder than he was at this time a year ago.
“It was the last week that it kind of jumped up,’’ Girardi said of Betances’ fastball readings.
The breaking ball Lagares spanked didn’t surprise Betances.
“It was a flying device. I left it down the middle,’’ the Grand Street Campus (Brooklyn) High School product said. “I could tell right away he was going to crush it.’’
General manager Brian Cashman said he isn’t concerned about Betances’ velocity being down because all of his power relievers are hovering around the same neighborhood on the speed guns.
“[Andrew] Miller, Betances, [Josh] Wilson and [David] Carpenter, all with power arms, are sitting around 94 [mph],’’ the GM said, although he did note Wilson hit 97 Tuesday against the Tigers. “All the power arms have been a little lower than they particularly are. The relievers are still building their arm strength.”