Dellin Betances said these control issues are different from those plaguing him early in his career.
And while there haven't been many silver linings of late surrounding the reliever who suddenly can't throw strikes, that is one.
"It's just delivery right now, consistency in my delivery," Betances said. "Before my stuff wasn't as good as it is now."
The "before" Betances referenced was his early time with the Yankees, years he would just as soon forget but ones that have come up recently as there seems to be a familiarity, at least on the surface, to his struggles.
The 29-year-old righty has taken losses in three of his last four appearances, most recently Wednesday against the Blue Jays when he walked four and allowed a run in one third of an inning. In his last four outings the 6-foot-8 Betances, an All-Star four years running, has allowed seven runs and walked 10.
The numbers are reminiscent of the bad old years.
There was his big-league debut Sept. 22, 2011 against the Rays at the Stadium when Betances allowed two runs, no hits and four walks over two thirds of an inning. He threw 27 pitches, seven for strikes.
Six days later Betances made his first, and only, big-league start. He allowed one hit, two walks and no runs over two innings, throwing 44 pitches, 23 for strikes.
"I feel my stuff is there," Betances said. "It's a just matter of being consistent with my mechanics."
Austin Romine, a catcher in the organization since 2007 (Betances was drafted in 2006), agreed.
"That's exactly what I see," Romine said. "Curveball's still sharp, his fastball's still 99 [mph]. It's a big body. It's hard for him to get stuff going the way he needs it to go. I don't see it lasting very long. As long as his stuff's still there ... that's all you can ask."
That the issues are mechanical and not a matter of quality of pitches doesn't necessarily mean an easy fix. Romine's "it's a big body" comment brings to mind a Randy Johnson remark shortly after retiring.
"This isn't a tall man's sport," Johnson said in January 2010.
Johnson stood 6-10 and battled mechanical issues on an off _ obviously the Hall of Famer managed well enough _ throughout his career, especially early on.
Pitchers walk a fine line in being able to repeat their deliveries, taller pitchers even more so.
"Those mild delivery inconsistencies are normal for the really tall guys," one opposing team scout said. "It doesn't take much to throw them off. He's been there before obviously."
Another opposing team scout who has watched Betances recently said the pitcher "didn't look comfortable" from the time he threw his first pitch Wednesday.
"It's not exactly the cleanest arm action or delivery, even when he syncs it up," the scout said. "To me he's even more closed than he was last year and he gets into trouble when his direction gets out of whack."
The scout mentioned Betances appearing particularly out of sorts with runners on, something the pitcher talked about, saying, "I'm in between two different deliveries" depending on if there are runners on.
"If there's a runner on first I'm trying to go quick," he said. "My timing is just not there right now."
Betances' troubles could not be coming at a worst time. The Yankees enter this weekend's series against the Brewers having lost 16 of 22 games and entered Thursday four games behind the Red Sox in the AL East.
For Joe Girardi, the answer is to continue pitching Betances.
"That's the way you get players back on track, is by working on it and getting him in games," Girardi said.
But he did not rule out putting the reliever in some lower leverage situations to accomplish that.
"That's something you can always think about, just to try and change it up to get him back on track," Girardi said. "But it's nothing we've talked about."
