New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Severino was trending in the right direction to make a return in the next few weeks after going down with a shoulder injury. However, after acquiring Frankie Montas from the Oakland Athletics, the Yankees took a more precautionary approach with Severino, placing him on the 60-day injured list to help mitigate fatigue and prepare him for the postseason come October.
Manager Aaron Boone spoke to Severino on Monday before the start of a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners. The veteran starter indicated that he was doing well, having a simple catch and stretching out his injured shoulder.
That is why it was a major surprise that the Yankees ended up placing him on the injured list, ruling him out until September at the earliest.
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Per the Yankees:
- Transferred RHP Miguel Castro RHP Luis Severino to the 60-day injured list.
- Optioned RHP Clarke Schmidt to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
- RHP Carlos Espinal (#88) to a Major League contract and selected him to the active roster
Severino has been fantastic coming off Tommy John surgery. The 28-year-old hosts a 3.45 ERA with a 3.47 xFIP this season over 86 innings. His strikeouts are down to 9.94 per nine, the lowest since the 2016 season. He is still generating an 81.2% left on base rate and 43% ground ball rate. His 15.6% HR/FB ratio is slightly elevated, but he’s been exceeding expectations otherwise.
Getting Severino back during the postseason will be perfectly timed, especially if they require his services in the starting rotation. At the very least, we should expect him to be a frequent flyer in the bullpen if the Yankees rely on him to help cover the middle innings.
In addition to Sevy, the Yankees also lost Miguel Castro to the 60-day injured list with a shoulder injury of his own. The 27-year-old has a 4.00 ERA this season over 27 innings. He’s earned 10 strikeouts per nine with a 69% left on base rate and 46.6% ground ball rate.
Featuring awesome velocity, Castro has nasty stuff when on top of his game but has had tumultuous performances and erratic accuracy at times. The plan is to get both Severino and Castro back for the postseason fully healthy and ready to go, which will be a huge boost down the stretch.