Luis Severino of the New York Yankees has not stepped on a major league mound all season with a right lat injury. Well, the wait is finally over and he’s expected to make his 2019 debut Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels.
“It’s going to open a lot of doors for us,” said Luis Severino. “…we are going to get our ace Severino back. We are going to be able to switch a couple (of) things around. If you start with Severino and come in with (Domingo) German, you got two aces right there. Not a lot of teams are going to want to face those guys.”
Severino has made three rehab starts where it looks like the Yankees have their ace back. His velocity is back to upper-90s and his breaking ball is looking sharp.
“I am very excited about that. It’s been a long wait, but it happened,” said Severino last Friday before their game against the Blue Jays. “I’m happy that I’m healthy and I’m going to be able to help my team.”
Catcher Austin Romine said it best, “We’re getting our guy back.”
The New York Yankees have not made a decision on what role Severino will fill when he returns. He’s expected to start Tuesday but a bullpen role could be on the horizon for him.
“This will help our bullpen, too, if you start with Sevy and then German that shortens it so the bullpen doesn’t have to be used as often, we can have matchups or give relievers more rest,” said Judge. “I’m excited.”
Manager Aaron Boone agrees, “We’ll probably be a little creative. I would just say it is all on the table. We feel like we have a lot of really good pitchers, and we are going to go into the postseason with whether it’s 11, 12, 13 pitchers, that we feel are capable of getting really important outs. We are probably going to need all of them. So, we’ll try and prepare guys for anything and everything, and hopefully, that will serve us well.”
Severino was dealing with right lat and shoulder inflammation all season. His rehabbing was inconsistent which caused confusion on a return date.
Last year, Severino was 19-8 with a 3.39 ERA. Fans remember his clutch performance during the 2017 postseason when the Yankees were facing elimination in game three against the Cleveland Indians.