The closer position for the New York Yankees has always been the least of the team’s worries entering a season for nearly two decades.
From 1997 to 2013, Mariano Rivera was the lynchpin for the Yankees’ bullpen.
In this role, “Mo” Rivera compiled 652 career saves, a mark that may never be touched.
Even, last season, David Robertson, the predecessor to “Mo”, proved to fill the role nicely with 39 saves and an FIP of 2.68.
However, this 2015 season should prove to be different with the battle for the closer role between Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller.
In two separate articles, each player’s case for the closer spot will be reviewed. The question is who should prove to fill the role better?
The 2014 season proved to be a record-breaking season for the 6’8” right-hander, Dellin Betances.
In a hybrid role, Betances pitched 90 innings in 70 games to the tune of a 1.40 ERA and 1.68 FIP.
In addition, he struck out a Yankee reliever record of 135 batters, nearly 40% of all batters faced.
Although David Robertson was racking up the saves, Betances proved to be the backbone for the Yankees’ bullpen.
Even with injuries to the Yankees’ starting rotation, Betances pitched consecutive games on multiple occasions and even pitched multiple innings at a time.
Last season, he proved to be an invaluable piece to the Yankees as he was a major reason for the team even being near wild card contention near the end of the season.
There are two specific reasons why Betances was so good last season – he displayed a tremendous fastball, and his performance proved to be spectacular with runners-on base.
The fastball was Betances’ go-to pitch for most of the season and for good reason. He displayed this pitch between 96-98 MPH and hit the 100 MPH mark 14 times (Figure 1).
In other words, he was able to dial his fastball at an above average rate for speed and even put more gas on the pitch when needed.
The reason for his tremendous fastball is a combination between his height and fantastic lower body flexibility.
For a man, who is 6 foot 8 inches tall, the average height of his release point is a surprising approximation of 6 foot 1 inch (Figure 2).
There are only two hypotheses that could explain this phenomenon – he is pitching from a quarter-arm/side-arm motion or he has a very long stride length.
From watching him pitch, it is obvious the latter is the truth. The lower body flexibility he displays is a sight to behold.
An overlooked benefactor of a long stride length is an increased speed of the pitch as it crosses home plate.
All radar guns measure the speed of a pitch as it leaves the hand of a pitcher.
However, most importantly, the speed, at which, the pitch the batter actually reacts to should prove to be more important.
On average, the end speed of Betances’ fastball was 88.7 MPH, almost 5 MPH faster than the league average.
With less time for batters to react to his fastball, Betance was able to compliment this tremendous pitch with an above average knuckle-curveball that generated 50.90 whiffs per swing.
The list of reasons to like Betances’ fastball can go on and on. However, the reason why the Yankees value Betances so much is his ability in crunch-time situations.
Figure 1
Figure 2
As last season showed, Betances proved to be a shutdown reliever in high-pressure situations.
In almost two-thirds of his total innings pitched, Betances was placed in medium to high leverage situations, where the at-bat could potentially swing the momentum of the game.
In these two situations, the opposing team’s hitters batted well below .200 and struck out almost 40% of the time.
As the season progressed, Betances was first pitcher the Yankees turned to in these high pressure situations because of his impressive consistency.
Even with runners on base, hitters batted well below the Mendoza line of .200 and hit with low power – SLG of .420.
It is clear that he showed similar traits to “Mo” Rivera in respect to performance when the game is on the line.
The question is whether last season’s clutch performance was an anomaly or a sign of the future to come from this giant from the Bronx.
The argument against Betances is that the sample size of his success consists of only one season at the big league level.
There are not many negatives to his game because his demeanor and quality of his pitches projects very well to the closer role.
His game is focused on a heavy fastball and an above average curveball.
Yet, if any criticisms could be made, his lack of a third quality pitch and possibly future elbow problems could be thought of as concerns.
As shown in Figure 3, his cutter proved to be an unreliable offering as he had trouble with its command.
Yet, with his full migration to the reliever role, like many of his predecessors, Betances will be able to get away with a below average third pitch offering because his fastball/curveball combination is so good.
In regards to injury concerns, though his stride length plays a crucial part to his velocity, his mechanics possibly leave his elbow exposed to injury (3).
He has not experienced any elbow issues since his ligament reinforcement surgery in 2009 (4).
However, with the elbow issues he has had in the past, his heavy use of the fastball/curveball combination should be considered in any future evaluation of Betances.
Still, Betances’ ability to get high-pressure outs in 2014 should serve him well if he is positioned as the opening day closer for the Yankees.
Figure 3
After being praised as part of the Killer B prospects, he seemed to lose his way as a starter in 2012.
With a revival as a reliever in 2013 for the Yankees’ farm system, Betances became a fixture in the Yankees’ bullpen and was a cornerstone for the team in crunch time situations.
With an excellent fastball/curveball combination, he made many batters look silly with a 13.50 K/9 and proved to be dominant in high-pressure situations in the 90 innings he pitched.
With an excellent 2014 season and solid peripherals, there is no reason that Dellin Betances cannot translate his recent success into a future role as the next top closer for the New York Yankees.
References:
1. "BaseballSavant.com." Baseball Savant: Your Source For Advanced MLB Statistics. Baseball Savant, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.
2. "Baseball Statistics and Analysis | FanGraphs Baseball." Baseball Statistics and Analysis | FanGraphs Baseball. Fangraphs, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.
3. Fortenbaugh, D., G. S. Fleisig, and J. R. Andrews. "Baseball Pitching Biomechanics in Relation to Injury Risk and Performance." Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach 1.4 (2009): 314-20. Web.
4. Kepner, Tyler. "Rising From Rivera’s Shadow, Yankees’ Bullpen Carves Its Place." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Aug. 2014. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.
NOTE: All statistics accurate as of 03/10/15
By Sanjay Pothula
AriBall.com
