Dellin Betances (; born March 23, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees and New York Mets from 2011 to 2021. Betances was named an MLB All-Star from 2014 to 2017.
Early life
Betances was born in Washington Heights, Manhattan. His parents, Jaime and Maria, immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic. Jaime is a boxer and drives for a car service. Betances has two older brothers and a younger sister. Spanish was Betances' first language. The family moved to the Lower East Side when he was ten years old.
Betances attended many New York Yankees games with his family as a child. At the age of 10, Betances attended the perfect game of then-Yankees pitcher David Wells in 1998, sitting with the Bleacher Creatures. He credits his family taking him to Yankee games with his choosing baseball over basketball. He played baseball in the summer in the Youth Service League.
Betances attended Progress High School within the Grand Street Campus in Brooklyn, New York. As a freshman, Betances was tall, and could throw a fastball as fast as . He played in a summer developmental league with future teammate Adam Ottavino, who was a couple of grades older, and Ottavino described him as very tall and lanky, saying he matured into his well-built structure as he got older.
By his junior year in 2005, Betances could throw upwards of . In 2005, Betances was named an Aflac All-American, the first player from New York City to receive the honor. He also played for the Team USA Junior National Team. By his senior year in 2006, Betances was tall. SchoolSports.com rated Betances as the tenth best high school prospect in 2006.
Professional career
New York Yankees
Betances was expected to be chosen in the first round of the 2006 MLB draft. However, he committed to attend Vanderbilt University on a baseball scholarship to play for the Vanderbilt Commodores and had a high signing bonus demand, which led him to fall in the draft. The Yankees selected Betances in the eighth round of the draft and gave him a $1 million signing bonus to forgo his commitment to Vanderbilt.
Betances was rated the Yankees' third best prospect for 2007, and their fifth best for 2009, according to Baseball America. He spent 2007 with the Staten Island Yankees of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League and 2008 with the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League. In 2009, he pitched for the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. He struggled with Tampa, as he pitched to a 2–5 win–loss record with a 5.48 earned run average (ERA) in 11 games started, before suffering an elbow injury in June. Betances had surgery late in the 2009 season, which was erroneously reported as Tommy John surgery, but was instead a ligament reinforcement procedure.
Betances began the 2010 season with Tampa, and received a midseason promotion to the Trenton Thunder of the Class AA Eastern League. Following the 2010 season, Betances was added to the Yankees' 40 man roster. He began the 2011 season with Trenton, and was promoted to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees of the Class AAA International League on August 13.
2011-2013
On September 8, 2011, Betances was promoted to the majors for the first time. Betances had a pitching session in the street in front of his Teaneck, New Jersey home with his brother before joining up with the Yankees in Anaheim. Betances and fellow prospect Andrew Brackman made their MLB debuts on September 22, 2011. Betances made only two appearances for the Yankees.
Betances spent the 2012 season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. On May 10, 2013, amid continued struggles with command, the Yankees announced that they would shift Betances to the bullpen. He was optioned back to Triple-A on May 24, 2013, after Iván Nova was activated from the disabled list. After pitching to a 1.46 ERA with 63 strikeouts in innings as a relief pitcher with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Yankees recalled Betances on August 11.
Betances was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on August 15 and brought back up to the majors on September 1, 2013, when rosters were expanded.
2014
Betances made the Yankees' Opening Day roster in 2014. He was elected to his first All Star Game in 2014, becoming the first Yankees rookie pitcher—along with teammate Masahiro Tanaka—to earn an All-Star Game nod since Spec Shea in 1947.