Sanchez having a real blast
close,” Girardi said. “It seems like this round they’ve all had a little bit of trouble, giving up home runs and having some problems with their command at times, so it’s all part of it. It’s still early. We still have a long ways to go, but you hope someone emerges.”
The organization would like Severino to emerge. He has highend stuff, but needs to be able to harness it. He needs to be able to have all three of his pitches working and get through lineups multiple times. He wasn’t able to do that last season.
“Of course I want to be a starter,” Severino said. “I know I have to work on my stuff. I have to work on my fastball command and my slider. I think my changeup right now is very good. I just need to work with Larry (Rothschild) more, that’s it.”
Asked about the competition, Severino replied: “Like I always say, the competition is with myself. And my competition is against me, trying to be better than the Severino of 2016. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
Severino of 2016 went 0-8 with an 8.50 ERA in 11 starts. He was also a dominant reliever. Severino of 2017 remains a work in progress.
The potential is there. The results haven’t been. In his previous start, Jays slugger Jose Bautista blasted a two-run, firstinning homer off the 23-year-old righty. On Wednesday, it was O’Neill who inflicted the damage. “I feel like my confidence is very good right now,” Severino said.
Brian Cashman has said the team will send Severino back down to Triple-A to continue to work as a starter if he doesn’t win a spot in the competition.
“Our focus is trying to figure out who the starters are going to be,” Girardi said. “Of those five guys, we wouldn’t put all three of them in the bullpen. They all have options. They all could for the most part go down in a sense. Anything’s possible. There are no gifts, so you’re going to have to earn your spot.”
It’s still early, but Severino needs to step it up.
TAMPA — While Tim Tebow is garnering all the headlines across the state, Gary Sanchez did what he usually does on Wednesday: Dominate on the baseball field. Sanchez blasted a bomb of a homer to straightaway center in the third inning of the Yankees’ 10-4 exhibition victory over Team Canada at Steinbrenner Field.
The 24-year-old phenom catcher has three homers this spring — two of them coming in Grapefruit League play.
Not bad for a guy who went 2-for-22 at the plate last spring.
“Last spring, I’m not sure he got a hit, so he looks a lot better,” Joe Girardi said. “I think he’s in a much different situation than last spring.”
Sanchez can dominate games with his arm and his bat.
“I feel good,” he said through a translator. “The mentality that I have right now is to work as if I’m not the regular catcher. That’s the way that I like to work, but I feel good.”
Red-hot Matt Holliday, who protected the third-hitting Sanchez out of the cleanup spot on Wednesday, also connected for a homer. He needs to stay healthy, because he’s already locked in.
CHANGE OF PACE
Flamethrower Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the fourth. He continues to work on his secondary pitches, a changeup and slider. It probably left many of Canada’s young, inexperienced hitters feeling helpless.
“‘This guy throws 103 and this is what I’m getting?’ They’re all geared up for the heater,” Joe Girardi said.
DOUBLE THE DIDI
Didi Gregorius, who is playing for the Netherlands, hit three doubles in his team’s 6-5 victory over Chinese-Taipei in the World Baseball Classic.
“We managed to fight back, because we always want to battle, never give up,” Gregorius, who tied the game at 5 with the final of his two-base hits in the eighth, said, according to MLB. com. “And we have a great team. Everyone’s pushing each other, to help each other.”