The New York Yankees have to be a bit concerned about pitcher Luis Severino and his rough spring training performance so far.
They won’t admit it, but they should be at least somewhat worried because they aren’t exactly deep at the rotation.
On Friday, he faced the Philadelphia Phillies in a spring training game, but the results were not good.
In 1.2 innings, he allowed three earned runs in four hits and four walks, with no strikeouts to his name.
The walk-to-strikeout ratio is especially troubling.
It’s actually Severino’s second outing of the spring, and the first one was similarly disastrous.
Five days ago against the Detroit Tigers, he pitched two frames and allowed four hits and a walk, conceding four runs.
He only struck out one that day.
Sevy’s Velo Is Back, At Least
There was, however, something to smile about Severino’s outing on Friday: his velocity is almost all the way back.
https://t.co/nsLCF19UiN pic.twitter.com/fA09TuDEO4
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) March 25, 2022
In 2017, his best season, Severino averaged 97.7 mph on his fastball.
But so far, his lack of command and control is alarming.
The Yankees should have brought in at least a couple of starters to add to their pitching depth, and now are very short in that area, especially since Domingo German will open the season on the injured list.
Behind Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery, the Yankees are full of question marks.
Can Nestor Cortes Jr. repeat his 2021 performance with no previous track record of pitching at that level?
Can Clarke Schmidt and Deivi Garcia leave behind their rough 2021?
Will Jameson Taillon be fully healthy to open the year?
Severino hasn’t had a full starter’s workload since 2018.
He lost most of the 2019, 2020, and 2021 campaigns with a myriad of injuries.
It’s too early to be overly concerned, but the Yankees, and especially fans, are worried, and will be until he can throw quality strikes consistently.
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