There was no grand plan when the Yankees finally shifted Dellin Betances to the bullpen at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season.
“He was failing as a starter, so you try to get something out of the ability,” general manager Brian Cashman said Friday. “At that point, you’re just hoping.”
They didn’t necessarily envision what happened Thursday at Citi Field, when the 6-foot-8 Betances overpowered the Mets for 2 ¹/₃ innings, striking out six straight.
Instead, they were hoping that by reducing the innings he pitched per outing and the fewer number of types of pitches he threw would help his control, so they could get something out of their seven-figure investment in the right-hander, who grew up in the projects of the Lower East Side and went to high school in Brooklyn.
It was a strategy they first tried in the Arizona Fall League in 2012.
“There was no immediate reversal in command,” said Mark Newman, senior vice president of baseball operations.
So while Betances felt like he was making strides, he was moved back to a starting role in the spring.
“Starting pitching is so valuable and he had so much success when he came back from [2009] elbow surgery,” Newman said. “He could throw his curveball, change and fastball for strikes. But then he just lost the feel.”
He finally got it back and has been opening eyes since the spring.
Perhaps fittingly, though, the pitcher who played his high school ball in Brooklyn and lived in Alphabet City, made his biggest impression in the Subway Series finale.
“He’s got the stuff to wipe out hitters,” Cashman said. “This is what we hoped we’d get when we signed him for $1 million instead of having him go to Vanderbilt.”
Coming out of Grand Street Campus in Brooklyn, Betances was a first-round talent, but appeared set to go to college until the Yankees stepped in.
“We figured if he went to Vanderbilt for three years and progressed, we wouldn’t have a shot at him,” scouting director Damon Oppenheimer said. “It was a risk/reward thing.”
And for the better part of eight years, the risk didn’t seem to match the reward.
“The way it was going, I thought he was going to be in the doghouse forever,” said his high school coach, Melvin Martinez. “He went from one of the top prospects in their farm system all the way to the bottom. It seemed like they would forget about him. Instead, here he is.”
After Thursday’s performance, Betances is striking out 15.7 batters per nine innings. It’s a long way from 2012, when he was sent back down to Double-A Trenton and his future was in doubt.
“That was the worst part,” Betances said. “I had no confidence in myself. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
That changed last season. After finishing with a 6.44 ERA in 2012, Betances was officially moved to the pen just over a year ago and quickly thrived. He finished 2013 with a 2.68 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 84 innings.
Now, after initial reluctance, Betances seems to have found a home in the bullpen.
“I know he was disappointed when they made the decision,” pitching coordinator Gil Patterson said. “But he’s obviously gotten over that.”
And he’s now become one of the centerpieces to the Yankees’ makeshift bullpen, which includes another homegrown former starter, Adam Warren.
Cashman declined to look much further down the road, preferring instead to enjoy finally getting to see the former prospect develop.
“Sometimes dreams come true,” Cashman said. “Sometimes it just takes more patience, especially with someone his size.”