Yankees: Did Luis Severino Blow His Chance of Making the Rotation?

Last week I told you why Luis Severino would be wise to stay in camp with the Yankees and not pitch in the WBC. After yesterday’s horrid performance, do you now understand why?

Inconsistent. That’s been the story of Luis Severino’s brief, but up and down Yankees career to date. Less than a week after throwing two scoreless frames, where his new changeup was on full display, the 23-year-old Severino was yanked after throwing 2.1 innings of less than stellar ball.

Indeed, Severino struck out the side in the first inning, but that was mixed in between a walk and a straight fastball that was left way too high in the zone. You simply can’t miss that poorly with location. Professional hitters like Jose Bautista will make you pay every single time — and he did with a two-run blast to right-center.

Now I completely understand that it was one bad pitch. And this was only his second outing of the spring. What concerns me more is the fact that Severino’s high-90s fastball had no movement on it. His slider worked well, as three of his strikeouts came via the pitch. As for his third pitch, the changeup — he threw it nine times, but it didn’t dance quite the way it did last Sunday in Tampa.

My biggest issue, though, is that it’s entirely possible, depending on how deep into the upcoming World Baseball Classic that the Dominican Republic advance, Severino may only have one or two more opportunities to impress before the Yankees open the season against the Rays on Sunday, April 2.