Former ace Severino rejoins club after 2-year absence
NEW YORK — Pitcher Luis Severino was activated by the New York Yankees before Monday’s series opener against Texas. He hadn’t made a major league appearance in nearly two years. (The game wasn’t over in time for this edition. For the result and story, go to courant.com/sports/baseball.)
“It will be like my first tenure here in 2015. It’ll be the same emotion,” Severino said before the game. “But after I throw the first pitch, I think everything is going to come back like I used to be.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone plans to use the two-time All-star out of the bullpen. New York began the day 1 ½ games behind Toronto for the second AL wild card spot.
“He could find himself in the highest-leverage situation or whatever and could evolve into a multi-inning role,” Boone said. “We feel like we’ve got a really good pitcher that we got to add to the mix today.”
The 27-year-old righthander had Tommy John surgery on Feb. 27, 2020. He made four minor league appearances totaling 10 ⅔ innings for Tampa, Hudson Valley and Somerset, allowing four runs, five hits and one home run with three walks and 15 strikeouts.
Severino’s rehab was slowed when he injured his right groin on June 12 in his second minor league appearance, for Hudson Valley at Brooklyn. Severino returned to pitch for Somerset on Aug. 3 and 8, then was scratched from an Aug. 13 outing for Triple-a Scranton/ Wilkes-barre because of shoulder tightness.
“He’s worked on his changeup, and I think adding kind of a cutter-and-a-slider-hybrid to his repertoire,” Boone said.
A 19-game winner in 2018, Severino signed a $40 million, four-year contract before the 2019 season.
He was limited by shoulder soreness to three appearances in 2019, the first on Sept. 17 and the last on Sept. 28, plus a pair of postseason starts that Oct. 7 against Minnesota in the AL
Division Series and Oct. 15 against Houston in the AL Championship Series.
“It’s been long enough,” Severino said. “Definitely be ready for any situation.”
According to pitching coach Matt Blake, the Yankees will stay away from using Severino in back-to-back games, at least initially.
“We’ll protect him,” Blake said. “The number of arms we have down there at this time of year helps with that. We’re trying to balance a couple different things with returning to play, a new role, coming off rehab in a pennant race, so we’re juggling a lot of balls to get him in the mix. Obviously, you want to do right by him as well.”
There’s also a sense of accomplishment here, as Blake readily mentioned. Seeing Severino in a Yankees uniform at all is a small victory for the team, as it allows them to have Severino undergo a traditional offseason rather than one full of rehabilitation and physical therapy. There’s also the jolt that comes with getting a pitcher back who, as recently as 2018, was one of the game’s absolute best.
“I’m really excited,” Boone said. “Excited for Sevy, too. It’s been a long road for him.”
Righthander Sal Romano was released by the Yankees to open a roster spot.
Also, pitcher Domingo Germán (right shoulder inflammation) could be activated as soon as Tuesday, and
Jameson Taillon (right ankle tendon) could throw in a minor league game Wednesday.