TAMPA, Fla. — Luis Severino is getting ready for April 9, his first start back in the Big Apple.
After being pushed back this week from a spring training start because of what he described as soreness and tightness in his whole right arm, including his forearm, after his last start, Severino felt good after he threw a 31-pitch bullpen Wednesday.
And he’s turned his focus to finishing up spring training and making his first regular season big league start in nearly three years.
“That’s my mindset right now; getting ready for my first start in New York,” Severino said before the Yankees took on the Blue Jays Wednesday night. “I think they say if everything goes well tomorrow, if I feel good tomorrow, I think I have a start on Saturday.”
Severino is tentatively scheduled to pitch his final spring training tuneup on Saturday against the World Series champion Braves at George M. Steinbrenner Field. If that goes well, he will be the Yankees' No. 2 starter behind Gerrit Cole, starting the second game of the regular season against the Boston Red Sox.
The red flags were raised when Severino talked about the soreness and tightness after throwing 49 pitches in a start on March 25, because of his recent history with injuries. The 28-year-old right-hander hasn’t made a regular-season start since 2019 and has pitched just 18 regular-season innings since the beginning of that season.
After signing a four-year, $40 million extension in spring 2019, Severino was shut down from his first Grapefruit League start that year with shoulder soreness. It eventually turned out to be a partially torn lat muscle, which kept him out until September.
He returned to pitch in the Yankees playoff run, but that led to a torn ulnar collateral ligament which required Tommy John surgery. He missed all of the COVID-19-abbreviated 2020 season and was expected back in mid-2021, but suffered a groin injury during rehab and then had shoulder discomfort, which held up his return.
All of that flashed through Severino’s mind when he woke up after an ugly outing against the Phillies last Thursday.
“I mean, it was [concerning] at the beginning, because you’re thinking of everything in the past with me,” Severino said. “The next day I was worried, but I got better the next day and the day after that too. So... I was feeling good about my arm.”
Severino threw 49 pitches in 1 2/3 innings of work against the Phillies last Friday, allowing three earned runs on four hits. He walked four in his last outing.
Severino said he never felt anything wrong with his arm in his last start, it was just when he woke up the next day.
It’s been four years since Severino pitched regularly, so he is naturally a little cautious after all he’s been through.
“For me it was like I haven’t done this in a while. I haven’t felt as tired or haven’t played and pitched like ‘Oh this time you have 40 pitches and next time you got 65,’ and all that stuff,” Severino said. “My arm is getting used to more work. Right now I feel pretty good.”
Manager Aaron Boone said the Yankees weren’t too concerned about Severino and thought it was partly his body getting re-acclimated to a normal build up.
“Hopefully, he keeps just getting through those little hurdles, because those are sometimes the last thing that you kind of have to get over, those thresholds,” the Yankees manager said.
With the extra caution, Severino said he is only slated to throw “maybe a little more” than the 49 pitches he threw last time. That will leave him a little short of fully stretched out to start the season, but not too far behind other starters, who are also going through a spring training shortened by the lockout.
