MLB

Hal finally has reason to rave about Yankees’ homegrown talent

Carlos Beltran has been out since May 13 and was hitting .234 when he landed on the disabled list. Brian McCann has been healthy since Opening Day and is batting .225. Jacoby Ellsbury, who has shown signs of getting warm again at the plate, is hitting .268.

Of the Big Four free-agent signings, only Masahiro Tanaka has delivered, posting a 7-1 record and 2.29 ERA.

So why are the Yankees, who have been without CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda and Mark Teixeira, four games over .500 going into Friday night’s against the Twins at Yankee Stadium?

Homegrown talent.

For a system that has been heavily criticized, the Yankees would be in body bags if not for players drafted and developed within the past nine years, and that is quite a difference from a year ago when the Yankees needed help from the minors and received little.

“After last year, this has been very good,’’ Hal Steinbrenner told The Post Thursday via telephone. “Last year we didn’t get the help we needed.’’

This year they have.

“We lost three of five starters, but [David] Phelps and [Chase] Whitley are getting us through it,’’ said Steinbrenner, who stated after the 2013 debacle that the Yankees would look at how they operate in the scouting and player development areas. “[Adam] Warren and [Dellin] Betances have found their groove. [John Ryan] Murphy has given us everything you could ask for. We are getting contributions and we need it.’’

Take away those names and what they have done, and the Yankees certainly would be more than the three games back of the Blue Jays they were before the AL East leaders played the Royals Thursday night. And the managing general partner didn’t include Robertson, who is 11-for-12 in save chances, or starting left fielder Brett Gardner, who is batting .281.

Steinbrenner also pointed to catchers Pete O’Brien and Gary Sanchez at Double-A Trenton as being positives.

Asked if Betances, who was drafted in 2006 and battled control problems as a minor league starter, was the biggest surprise, Steinbrenner raved.

“He has found his role,’’ Steinbrenner said of the 26-year-old product of Grand Street Campus High School in Brooklyn. “He is just dominant in that one- or two-inning role.’’

It’s hard to find a reliever throwing better than the 6-foot-8 Betances is. In 30 ²/₃ innings he has fanned 51 thanks to a mid-90s fastball and a put-away breaking ball. He has walked just nine all season and none in his last nine appearances.

At this point, Betances has to be a legitimate candidate to be part of the AL All-Star bullpen in July in Minneapolis.

So has the success of homegrown talent changed Steinbrenner’s mind about how business is being conducted in the minors, after speculation scouting director Damon Oppenheimer and minor league director Mark Newman could be in jeopardy?

“At the end of every year we look at changes in the scouting and player development,’’ Steinbrenner said. “It’s not as good as it could be, but we have young players now playing good at Double-A.’’

As for the AL East, Steinbrenner isn’t ready to write obits for the Red Sox and Rays, who were eight and nine games, respectively, behind the sizzling Blue Jays, who took a nine-game winning streak into Thursday.

“We have had three of our five starters out for almost a month and we are grinding away,’’ Steinbrenner said. “It’s a tough division. Toronto has surprised some people and you can’t count out the Rays or Red Sox.’’

Without Robertson, Betances, Warren, Phelps, Whitley, Gardner and Murphy, the Yankees would be bunking with the Rays and Red Sox and trying to explain how they spent $500 million on free agents and got worse.

Thanks to a system that failed miserably a year ago those questions aren’t being asked.