Yanks Go Yard
FanSided

Yankees News: Prized Prospect Luis Servino Lives Up to Hype in Dominant Debut

By Michael Cambria

facebooktwitterreddit

Prior to Tuesday’s New York Yankees v. Philadelphia Phillies Spring Training opener at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Florida, a scout was talking about prized prospect Luis Severino.

According to George King III of the New York Post, the aforementioned scout said the young right-hander was “The best pitcher in the minor leagues I saw last year.”

Servino, 20, is the top prospect in New York’s farm system and the No. 23 prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com. On Tuesday he pitched 1 1/3 innings and boy did he look impressive. He struck out the first two Phillies batters in consecutive order, catching Cesar Hernandez looking at an 86-mph knee-buckling change-up and smoking an 0-2 fastball clocked at 96-mph by Cameron Rupp. He followed the two strikeouts with a shattered bat ground out against Ben Revere with a 94-mph fastball.

His second frame however wasn’t as impressive. Servino allowed back-to-back singles to Freddy Galvis and Grady Sizemore, which were followed up by a Ryan Howard RBI single to right on a 3-2 fastball clocked in at 94-mph. He managed to record the next out, but gave up another RBI blooper to Domonic Brown on a 96-mph fastball, which put the Phillies up 2-1 and ended Servino’s day.

Severino’s rougher second inning didn’t lessen the hype surrounding him by any means.

“The hype is warranted,” one NL scout told Erik Boland of Newsday New York.

Skipper Joe Girardi was equally impressed.

“There’s no fear there,” Joe Girardi told Boland. “He went right at guys.”

The young Dominican Republic native has elevated rapidly through the minor leagues, ending his 2014 season with Double-A Trenton after starting the season with Single-A Charleston. As much as it pains me to say this, there’s little to no chance that Servino will make the big league roster out of Spring Training, but patience is a virtue. Servino being called up at some point this season is certainly in the foreseeable future, especially if he dominates the minor leagues the same way he did in 2014.

With one Yankees prospect shining on the first day of Spring Training, let’s see what another one can do on the second day. The Yankees will send the young Nathan Eovaldi to the mound on Wednesday against the Phillies. Let’s see if he can dazzle the same way Servino did.

More from Yanks Go Yard

Home/Yankees News