Yankees Youngsters Chad Green and Luis Cessa Join the Rotation

The New York Yankees youth movement continues with the promotions of starting pitchers Luis Cessa and Chad Green to the big league rotation.

For the third time this season, the New York Yankees demoted struggling pitcher Luis Severino to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Despite his solid numbers with the Railriders, Severino continues to have trouble getting big league hitters out consistently.

The 22-year-old righty gave up seven earned runs in just 3.2 innings of work in Sunday’s 12-3 blowout loss to the last-place Tampa Bay Rays, raising his ERA to 7.19 on the season. The outing prompted many pundits to speculate Severino might be best served long-term with a move to the bullpen, given his lack of an effective third pitch.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi reiterated that the team thinks he can be a successful big league starter, telling Chad Jennings of the Journal News:

"“We really believe that he’s a starter, but time will tell that,” Girardi said. “I think it’s obviously way too early to determine that he’s not a starter. But that third pitch is really important if you’re going to become a starter.”"

In his place, the Yankees will slot in Chad Green, who has also had a tough time in the majors this year. Green has a 7.50 ERA in 18 innings as a starter for the Yankees this year, striking out 21 but allowing a whopping eight long-balls.

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In addition, the Yankees have added a second young starter to the rotation in Luis Cessa to take the place of Nathan Eovaldi, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list with an elbow injury.

Although they lack extensive big league experience, both Green and Cessa have been excellent in Triple-A this season. Green has a 1.52 ERA and 2.11 FIP in 16 starts for the Railriders, while Cessa has a 3.03 ERA and 3.57 FIP in his 14 Triple-A starts.

Both young righthanders came to the Yankees this winter in the trade that sent lefty reliever Justin Wilson to the Detroit Tigers. Wilson has an ugly 4.53 ERA in 48 appearances for Detroit, although his peripheral stats suggest he has been the victim of some bad luck.

Still, if one or both of these youngsters emerge as a viable starter, that trade has to be counted as a major win for Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

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Green will take the hill Monday at 7:05 to start the series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays. Cessa first big league start looks like it will come Saturday against the Los Angeles Angels.