At this point, Betances can only look forward to the Arizona Fall League in October.
Since appearing in the Double-A All-Star Game last month in New Hampshire, Betances is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 23-14.
Over his last 10 starts dating back to June 15, the Yankees’ top preseason pitching prospect, according to Baseball America, is 1-5 with a 5.55 ERA.
Although legitimately thrilled for his good friend Banuelos, Betances expressed frustration with himself, his surprisingly lackluster season and, at times, with the Yankees’ developmental plan for him during a surprisingly candid interview last week with select reporters, including Mike Ashmore of the Hunterdon County Democrat._______
“It (stinks) not being able to pitch good, to be honest,’’ Betances said. “It’s frustrating because you know that if I’m throwing as hard as I am, I should be able to pitch better. I have the confidence in myself to bounce back and finish strong … at least for this year.”
When asked if the Yankees were allowing him to use all of his pitches, Betances said:
“No, right now I feel like I could do whatever I want. I just haven’t got the chance to do it. ’’
Another touchy subject with the 6-foot-8, Brooklyn-educated Betances has been his limited innings, but it is difficult to blame the notoriously cautious Yankees for his inability to reach 100 innings with less a month remaining in the regular season.
Because of his 4.9 walks per nine innings, Betances has been maddeningly inefficient and is averaging less than five innings per start.
“I think now they’re going to let me go,’’ Betances said. “I mean, I would love to go seven innings. I haven’t gone seven innings since Charleston (in 2008) just because they haven’t given me the chance. I’ve had games this year where I could have gone longer than six, but they have something going now and it’s getting to the last month.’’
In his only start following that interview, Sunday in Altoona, Betances again was capped at five innings.
Even if he averages nine innings over his final five (scheduled) regular season starts, Betances will not reach the organization’s preseason goal of 150.
...
“They feel like they have a limit of innings for me,’’ Betances said. “Now that it’s getting into August, the goal is 150 and I’m not even at 100 now. So, it’s one of those things where they probably want to let me go and see if I can get to 130-150 by the end of the year.”
Betances stats have actually looked better than Banuelsos through this year with their official stats line reading:
Betances is 4-6 with a 3.57 ERA and 54 walks in 98 1/3 innings.
Banuelos was 4-5 with a 3.59 ERA and 52 walks in 95 1/3 innings in AA before his promotion.
I feel for Betances, but if he had pitched better then he would be closer to his 150 innings goal that the Yankees set for him. That being said I feel that the Yankees have not managed high ceiling players like Betances well. Ivan Nova was never a top prospect for the Yankees and he was never tweaked with or capped like High ceiling players like Hughes. Nova has a 3.86 ERA in 2011 as of his 8/10/2011 and is probably their number four pitcher in the playoffs this year. Holding Betances back is the safe approach but their caution may be holding him back from his potential. This is however based on my idea that the innings pitched of a pitching prospect are the most important statistic for someone to build in the minors, especially the pre AAA minors. A lot of fans were hoping that the Killer B's would have done better this year than they have but I think all three of them will be in AAA Scranton next year.
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