Luis on the loose
Severino trying to recapture past hype
Last April 8, Luis Severino made his season debut in Detroit as the Yankees’ No. 4 starter. At the time, the organization t hought the young righthander was on the verge of developing into a t opof-therotation pitcher w h o cou ld deliver 200 quality innings consistently.
Instead, Severino flopped miserably and was out of the rotation and on the disabled list with a strained triceps by May.
In all, he started 11 games for the Yankees in 2016, and went 0-8 with a 8.50 ERA in those appearances. He finished the season in the bullpen after a stint with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
So it is no surprise that expectations are considerably more conservative this time around.
Severino wasn’t able to secure a spot in the rotation until the end of spring training, and he will face no easy task Friday in Baltimore — against a lineup that features Manny Machado and Mark Trumbo.
“I feel I’m the same guy I was in 2015,” Severino said of when he burst on the scene two years ago and was looked at as a significant part of the team’s future. “Last year, I was not being a pitcher. I tried to throw hard. I was just a thrower. I went down [to the minors] and learned how to pitch and throw a slider. This offseason, I learned a changeup.”
It all sounds fine, but Severino has delivered that message before. He eventually landed in the bullpen in The Bronx last year and had considerable success.
But the Yankees know how much more valuable a good young starter is than a relief pitcher, so they want to exhaust all options before abandoning this project.
He performed well toward the end of spring training, and manager Joe Girardi said he believes if Severino can keep his fastball down in the zone, he can return to the heights he reached two seasons ago.
“He got better as time went on,” Girardi said of Severino’s spring.
But Girardi also added Severino would have to prove he should stay in the rotation with results — and not simply potential.
“I don’t want our young players looking over their shoulders and thinking every start is their last start,’’ the manager said. “We want to see continued growth from him. He’s really young. We see the potential and adjustments he made during spring training, and we want that to continue.”
The reality might be, though, that he is better suited for the bullpen. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild is trying to find a way to keep Severino effective for a longer period of time.
He pointed to the fact that opposing batters hadn’t seen him much when he arrived in 2015, then when Severino was limited to shorter outings last season, he pitched far better.
“When you saw him in short spurts last year, he can overpower people at times,” Rothschild said. “It’s just hard to do it in a start over the course of a game.”
But with a rotation littered with question marks — that continue into the minors now thanks to James Kaprielian’s continued arm issues — the Yankees have little to lose by giving Severino another shot.
“I can do it,” Severino said. “I just need to do what Joe says and keep my pitches down.”
If he doesn’t, he may find himself in a similar situation as he did last May 3, when Trumbo took him deep twice in homerfriendly Camden Yards.