Dellin Betances is a strikeout machine: Records his 100th (and 101st) strikeout in only 64 innings
Dellin Betances is a K-machine: 100 Ks in only 64 IP
Some believe that each person was put on this planet with a specific reason or purpose, that their bodies are simply machines dedicated to one task. If true, then Dellin Betances is a robot that was built to strike people out.
Well, either that or show off a seriously wonderful haircut:
Betances, gifted with an upper-'90s fastball and a wipeout slider, has made hitters lives miserable enough to fit in a Dostoyevsky novel. With a second-best in the Majors K/9 of 14.14 and batters hitting only .127/.227/.176 against him on the season, Betances' opposition has mostly been doing a lot of this:
As Dostoyevsky once wrote about this GIF:
Against the Twins on Wednesday afternoon, Betances became the first Yankees reliever to reach the 100-strikeout club in back-to-back seasons, needing only 64 innings to do it this year. So in love with getting batters to swing and miss, in fact, he added one more for good measure while picking up his eighth save of the season.
While Betances will surely be racking up more innings and strikeouts over the next six weeks of the season -- dropping him from this list of pitchers with the fewest innings in a season and 100-plus strikeouts -- it does put him in a special camp:
| Player | IP | SO | Year | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aroldis Chapman | 54 | 106 | 2014 | 26 |
| Andrew Miller | 62.1 | 103 | 2014 | 29 |
| Craig Kimbrel | 62.2 | 116 | 2012 | 24 |
| Aroldis Chapman | 63.2 | 112 | 2013 | 25 |
| Dellin Betances | 64 | 101 | 2015 | 27 |
| Brad Boxberger | 64.2 | 104 | 2014 | 26 |
| Kenley Jansen | 65.1 | 101 | 2014 | 26 |
| Billy Wagner | 66.1 | 106 | 1997 | 25 |
| David Robertson | 66.2 | 100 | 2011 | 26 |
| Greg Holland | 67 | 103 | 2013 | 27 |
| Billy Wagner | 69.1 | 104 | 2010 | 38 |
Looking at that list, you may be surprised by one name in particular: Billy Wagner. While rising strikeout rates and increased bullpen specialization of the last few years help explain why seven of those 11 seasons are from 2012 or later, Billy Wagner more than doubled the league's 6.61 average K/9 rate with 14.4 per game in 1997.
So, it's not that surprising that Wagner would go on to set the left-handed strikeout record:
Sorry, Crash, strikeouts may be fascist, but they're anything but boring.