• I am going to post two articles written by competing blogs. I would like to ask you if you think the 1st article was plagurized by the 2nd.

    Age: 18
    Height: 6’7"-6’9" (Depending on who you ask)
    Weight: 185-215 (Again, depending on who you ask)
    Drafted: 8th Round in 2006 out of High School
    Position: Starting Pitcher
    Throws: Right

    Fastball: Betances is 18 years old. He is a big guy. He has yet to put a lot of muscle on his frame. He throws a 93-97 mph fastball, hitting 98, with nasty movement on it. He throws it with command and consistent mechanics. His fastball can do nothing but improve. Betances entered camp a raw talent, throwing 3-4 mph slower and with a mechanical delivery all over the place. The Yankees took him in and almost immediately corrected his flaws, resulting in a beautiful product.

    Curveball: Betances throws a knuckle curve. He entered camp with a slight feel for it, but it was not much of a weapon. As would be a theme for Betances, this would change almost immediately. In less than two months, Betances transformed a pitch which he had little feel for in to a true plus pitch. His curveball is a strikeout weapon that sits in the low 80s.

    Changeup: Yet again, Betances entered camp without much of a changeup. In fact, he entered camp barely knowing how to throw one. At least he had some experience with a curveball. With a little instruction, Betances was almost instantly able to throw a plus changeup, which compliments his fastball perfectly. He does not yet use it as a strikeout pitch, but that could change in the future.

    Command: Betances entered camp with the typical “tall man syndrom”, meaning that he had difficult repeating his delivery. That lasted about a week. To compare, it took Randy Johnson the better part of a half decade to do the same. That said, Betances is not 6’10". People tend to overestimate height, and I would say that Betances is more likely closer to 6’7" than 6’9". After that week of adjustment, Betances never let up. He was dominant.

    Performance: Betances has a short pedigree in professional baseball. After signing, he tossed 23.1 innings (the Yankees limited his workload, as they do with a lot of 18 year olds), striking out 27, walking 7, and allowing just 3 earned runs (1.16 ERA). Betances did this following a 40+ inning high school performance where he struck out over 100. Why did he fall to us in the 8th round? Well, there are a few reasons. First off, no one thought that he would sign. Second, he pretty much said “If I am going to sign, it is only going to be with the Yankees”. Third, he was not a three pitch pitcher prior to attending the Yankee camp. He tossed a live fastball and had little in terms of secondary pitches. This is a steal.

    2007 Outlook: Dellin will certainly head to Charleston, where he will join a very talented rotation. The Yankee goal in 2007 will likely to simply keep Betances healthy, marginally effective, and adjusted to everyday baseball. He has no lingering issues with injury to worry about, but at such a young age who knows what health problems he may encounter in the future. He could very well take the Phil Hughes path, moving up to Tampa after some limited time in Charleston. If he manages to pitch 120+ innings, we Yankee fans should be very optimistic about his future. If he dominates Charleston, we may have another top-flight prospect on our hands.

    Health: Incomplete. He is too young to determine anything about his health, although he has no immediately apparent health issues.

    Ceiling: Betances has no ceiling. He is that good. If he can continue to stay mechanically clean and throw three plus pitches, he will be a success in this league. He is so young that he should be considered years ahead of schedule. I have not seen Betances pitch, but after reading a lot about him something struck me. He knows how to adjust. He quickly learned pitches, he quickly learned how to fix his mechanics, and he quickly learned how to attack hitters in professional baseball. Who does this remind me of? Phil Hughes.

    Reaching Ceiling: He is so young that he will have dozens of opportunities to fail. Nothing can really be said about this right now.

    Comparison: Can I say Phil Hughes? I guess I cannot. Besides a few inches and a few ticks of velocity, the two prospects seem to be mirror images of each other. Since I cannot say Phil Hughes, I am going to compare Betances to a healthy Mark Prior.

    My take: I originally had Betances rated much lower, for the same reason that I rated Montero lower. But I stepped back and reflected on my choice. Betances is very young and very inexperienced. However, I cannot ignore how quickly his pitching intelligence kicked in and he adjusted his game. Some players just have it. They just know how to play. It is natural for them. Betances seems to be a natural. I am going to cautiously predict that Betances will have a Hughes-like rise to power, becoming a top-5 pitching prospect in this league in the next few years. Yankee fans should be very excited about him. His height and velocity give him an advantage over a guy like Hughes. Cross your fingers that he stays healthy.

    The young 18 year old Dellin Betances, was drafted in the 8th round of the 2006 draft out of high school. The 6’7" right hander features a nasty fastball clocked from 93-97 MPH, occasionally hitting 98. Betances also throws a knuckle curve, but when he entered camp, he claimed that he didn’t have a complete feel for it. When the Yankees drafted and signed him, they took Dellin, and began working on those mechanics. It went from a pitch lacking a feel for it, to a true strikeout weapon that sits in the low 80’s.

    Dellin came into camp with a change up, although he barely knew how to throw it. The Yankees started working on it like his knuckle curve, and transformed it to another strikeout weapon, that goes great with his fastball.

    Betances came into camp with a lack of command, mostly because he couldn’t repeat the same wind-up motion, that didn’t last long with Dellin.

    Here’s the line on Dellin for his brief 2006 season:

    23.1 1.16 0-1 0 0.90 10.4

    IP ERA Record Saves WHIP K/9

    Although Betances has no apparent health issues, it is very early to tell if he’s injury-prone, or not.

    If you look back to the beginning of the article, you’ll see that the Yankees drafted this youngster in their 8th round. With this kind of scouting report, how did he fall so late? Well maybe it was because he specifically said that he will only sign with the Yankees, no one else. Betances has a future career, whether it be in New York, or somewhere else. If he maintains those three plus pitches, keeps adjusting as quickly as he has already shown, and stays healthy, the Yankees may have another “blue chip” in their farm system. At this point, I rank Dellin #4 in the Yankee’s Farm System.

    Thanks. I’ll explain after I get a few opinions.


  • It’s very clear that the second text is pulling directly from the first, until you reach the stats posting.  I’d say no coincidence, but I don’t know how plagiarism is applied to the internet/blogs.  It wasn’t directly quoted, so no need for sourcing, but without a doubt the first text was used in writing the second, with very little modification.

  • '19 Moderator

    I agree with Jermo, the second looks to be pulled from the first directly.


  • All right. Someone is getting a very nasty email from me.

    (In case you guys didn’t know, I maintain the top Yankee prospect site on the internet at yankeeprospects.blogspot.com)


  • @Yanny:

    All right. Someone is getting a very nasty email from me.

    (In case you guys didn’t know, I maintain the top Yankee prospect site on the internet at yankeeprospects.blogspot.com)

    I knew the 1st one was you.  :wink:


  • I’m starting to get a nice little reptuation among Yankee fans. I am actually in the process of switching to a huge network of blogs. Hopefully, my readership will break out of this 700 unique user bubble that I’ve been in for months.

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