Yankees relief pitcher Dellin Betances has lost a touch of speed on his fastball this spring. Betances has allowed three runs on six hits in five innings of work, including a run off a leadoff walk Tuesday.
"There’s no concern for me now,'' manager Joe Girardi said to ESPN.com. "If it was to go on for a long time you’d be concerned, but he wasn’t throwing 97 at this time last year, he wasn’t, and power pitchers usually take a little bit longer to get going."
Betances isn't holding anything back for the regular season.
"No, not at all," he said. "I gotta just trust whatever I have right now. I know that the velocity will come. Same thing last year in spring training; last year I just trusted it and this year I’m trying to do a little extra with whatever I have instead of just trusting it."
Girardi knows there is a long way to go.
"It's a long year," Girardi said. "We got a long ways to go, so we’ll keep his work consistent with what we've done this spring training.
"So, I mean it’s going to be really close to 12 innings. He’ll be ready to go."