Sevy to lL, may be out month or more
After a half-season of good health, Luis Severino has landed back on the injured list — with an all-too-familiar diagnosis.
The Yankees placed Severino on the 15-day IL Thursday with a “low-grade right lat strain,” a day after the right-hander pulled himself from a start against the Reds after just two innings.
In April 2019, Severino was diagnosed with a Grade 2 lat strain, which came on the heels of rotator cuff inflammation. He did not return to the Yankees until September that season.
Though the new diagnosis appears to be less severe than the 2019 version, it remains to be seen how long Severino will be out. Manager Aaron Boone said, after the Yankees’ 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Reds, that he did not yet have a timetable.
But Dr. James Giordano, an MD in orthopedic surgery at Ridgewood Orthopedic Group who is fellowship trained in sports medicine, said Severino could be facing at least a fourto-six week recovery process.
“Usually, the milder ones that are treated more aggressively, it still takes four-to-six weeks to get back from those,” said Giordano, who has not looked at Severino’s imaging. “That’s being aggressive, that’s assuming it’s mild. … If it tends to drag on or they take it more slowly or it turns out to be a more severe grade, it would be more like as much as three or four months.”
Severino’s velocity was down in his outing Wednesday — he averaged 94.1 mph on his fastball after averaging 96.1 mph on the season — which was a clear cause for concern. He said he had woken up with a tight shoulder, but it did not loosen up like he thought it would throughout the night.
On Thursday, after undergoing an MRI exam, but before the diagnosis was revealed, Severino said he was still “a little sore.”
“I’m not an expert in injuries, but I don’t think it’s [anything] bad,” Severino said. Severino was hopeful he could have a quick recovery, but instead he will be sidelined as the Yankees rotation deals with its first injury of the season.
“That’s a big blow,” Aaron Judge said. “He’s our No. 2. He’s been pitching the ball well this year. But it’s 15 days, I feel like all our starters should get a little time on the IL just to rest up.”
The club called up Ryan Weber from Triple-A Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre to take Severino’s roster spot and provide length out of the bullpen, a night after relievers were forced to cover eight innings.
The Yankees won’t need a fifth starter until after the AllStar break, so they will go with the extra bullpen arm until then. Internal candidates to take Severino’s spot in the rotation include Domingo German (who will make another rehab start Friday at SWB), Clarke Schmidt and JP Sears.
Sears was optioned to Triple-A on Wednesday night after throwing 3 2/3 innings in relief of Severino, but he will be eligible to be recalled by July 24, the day of the Yankees’ fifth game back out of the break, or sooner if he is replacing an injured player.