New York Yankees’ ace Luis Severino finally stepped back on a mound Friday where he threw a 23-pitch bullpen. This session featured Severino’s fastball, changeup, and slider. After completing the bullpen, he used only one word to describe it – “perfect.” Severino continued to say, it was “better than expected. I threw a couple of changeups, the slider and everything was normal. I was expecting my secondary pitches to be a little off, but they were good.”
You can take a look at him throwing using this link:
https://www.mlb.com/yankees/video/severino-s-bullpen-session
Severino’s fluidity looks like it’s coming back to him. He looks strong and well maintained throwing off the mound. Severino believes it’ll take him about a month to fully get him to 100%, where he’s very optimistic about returning as a starter. With no more setbacks, manager Aaron Boone believes it is a very possible timetable. The first major indication would be that Severino comes back tomorrow with no pain following the bullpen.
He is scheduled to throw another bullpen session on Monday, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Following his bullpens, the next step would be facing batters. This could take place in the minor leagues or a simulated game setting.
Severino’s last season with the Bombers landed himself finishing 9th in the Cy Young Award voting, where he finished 3rd the year prior. He finished with a 19-8 record and a 3.39 ERA (Baseball Reference).
I believe Severino will find himself back on the mound this season, either as a bullpen arm or a starter. He will use the month of September as a full spring training, where he’ll build himself up to be ready for the postseason. His pitch and inning count will definitely be monitored however I do think the New York Yankees will do anything possible to get him on the postseason roster – granted he healthy.