Yankees News: Luis Severino impresses Joe Girardi

By Caleb Gebrewold | Feb 24, 2015

New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi watched as top prospect Luis Severino threw his first bullpen of Spring Training on Saturday. While Girardi has only heard positive reviews regarding the young pitcher, he had never seen him pitch live. Severino’s talent is not debatable, as some have even gone as far as comparing him to recent Hall of Fame inductee, Pedro Martinez.

While those comparisons may be a bit too premature, considering that Severino is in his first major league camp, hasn’t thrown a pitch higher than AA, and just turned 21 on Friday, Girardi was very impressed and said this to NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty:

"It’s a live arm. It’s a player who’s bigger in (stature) than I thought. When I heard some of the comparisons, he’s bigger than I thought. Sometimes you worry about the rigors of players, but he’s a strong, young kid with a lot of talent."

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Severino only threw about 25 pitches on Saturday, and although he is not on the 40-man roster, it is highly possible that he will make his Major League debut at some point this year. If you follow the Yankees, then you know about the questions surrounding their rotation, and while I assume other young arms such as Bryan Mitchell, Adam Warren, and Chase Whitley will get the call before Severino, it is Severino with the best chance at becoming a long term fixture in the Yankees rotation.

No matter how dominating Severino is in Spring Training, the Yankees surely will delay his debut, simply for the purposes of having an extra year of team control. He could be a contributor in 2015, however, as Girardi stated in regards to the matter:

"That’s not up to me, but I don’t think… if you’re in big league camp, there’s a reason you’re here. Some of it is, you’ve been put on the 40-man roster for the first time. Some of it really is the ability and we think that you can be part of our club this year."

These are very high regards to a young pitcher who hasn’t reached AAA, let alone the majors in his young career. These type of statements are generally the norm regarding Severino after a dominant 2014, where he pitched in the MLB All-Star Futures Game.

Although Severino has been tearing up the minors since signing in 2012 (great bargain signing that only cost $225,000), it wasn’t until last year that scouts began to recognize him. If he can keep up this path, he has all the makings of a future ace. Soon, the Yankees may have a three headed monster atop their rotation in Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, and Michael Pineda.

Let’s hope that all early indications are true, and that Severino will be the star he is expected to become.

Next: Are the Yankees being hypocritical with Andy and A-Rod?

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