Dellin Betances of the New York Yankees has missed the entire season so far with an injured lat. His rehabbing has been up and down, however there is some positive news with the hard-throwing reliever.
Betances threw on flat ground from 60 feet away this past Monday, per Cole Harvey of ESPN.com. This was the first time he has thrown since early June, and is just the beginning of his throwing program. Betances is expected to complete a full throwing program before he moves into live games.
Manager Aaron Boone said this about Betances and his teammate Luis Severino, “Within the next couple of weeks, if everything continues to progress,†Boone said. “I would say some time in the early part of next month, they should be on the mound, if everything continues to go well.â€
According to CBS sports, Betances is expected to be out until at least August 6th. However, I don’t see this occurring. He has too much ground to cover before he heads into live games and I think he’ll return late August.
Betances is one of the best arms in the Yankees’ bullpen. He was credited to a 2.70 ERA last season where he only allowed 20 earned runs in 66.2 innings pitched (Baseball Reference). He runs his fastball to triple digits while having a spinner at 86 mph to keep hitters guessing.
The Yankees bullpen hasn’t really missed a step with Betances’ absence. They rank second among the league’s bullpen ERAs with a 3.72, just behind Cleveland’s 3.30. They have limited batters to a .236 batting average with an astounding 442 strikeouts this season so far.