Bomber Bites With Jumping Joe–Dellin Betances Having Season For the Ages

The Yankees have not had a lot of things go right for them this season. The team as a whole has had a disappointing season that will finish out of the playoffs. The Captain, Derek Jeter, has performed the way one would expect a 40-year-old shortstop to play and has illustrated the reason why there are very few of those in MLB history. The starting rotation was devastated by injuries with 4/5 of the rotation landing on the DL. The lineup, which was supposed to be bolstered by the free agent additions of Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran, has struggled to score runs on a nightly basis. But there was one unblemished shining star in this bleak Bomber season, Dellin Betances.

Mandatory Credit: Chad R. MacDonald.

Betances, a former top minor league starting pitching prospect, moved to the bullpen last season while at Triple-A. This season, he pitched fantastic during spring training to make the big league club on the final week of camp, and his magical season was off and running. Betances quickly established himself as a player who could be counted on to get big outs. He worked his way from a fringe, possible 25th man on the roster, to the Yankees’ primary set-up guy. Betances made the All-Star team after his stellar first half, and kept on his high level of play in the second half. He has been the best reliever in baseball this season. Last night, he broke Mariano Rivera’s record for most strikeouts in a season with his 131^st punch-out of the year. And he did it in less innings than the greatest closer of all-time.

"“Just to be mentioned around his name, you’re talking about the best closer, the best reliever in the game,” Betances said. “Just to be around the same breath as him, I take thrill in that. As far as innings, like I said before, he did it with one pitch, so I think that’s more amazing.” (h/t Chad Jennings, The LoHud Blog)"

Betances’s future is now wide open. If the Yankees choose not to resign closer David Robertson after the season, he could continue to follow in the footsteps of Rivera, and become the Yankees’ closer in his second year. Or he could continue to be the dominant set-up man that he was this season. In either case, he will be an integral part of the Yankee bullpen for years to come, and has been one of few bright spots in his dark season for the Bombers.

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