Yankees Place Nathan Eovaldi on DL, Recall Severino

The New York Yankees placed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi on the 15 day disabled list and recalled Luis Severino back from Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre to take his place.

As expected, Yankees starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday, after leaving his last start after just one inning because of elbow soreness.

It was clear something was wrong Wednesday when Eovaldi, who usually has one of the best fastballs in the league, could barely touch the mid 90’s with his heater. When he admitted to feeling some discomfort, he was promptly shut down and sent back to New York for testing.

According to a report from Newsday, Eovaldi underwent an MRI and was examined by Dr. Christopher Ahmad Thursday. He subsequently asked for a second opinion, which probably means that the first diagnosis was pretty serious. 

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Yankees manager Joe Girardi was reticent with the press about the injury, preferring to wait until the results of the second opinion before commenting, but he did call the issue “concerning.”

As I discussed when the injury first occurred, there seems like a strong possibility that Nathan Eovaldi could be headed for his second TJ surgery at some point soon. Any elbow problem for a pitcher is a red flag, and this is the second straight season that Eovaldi has had to be shut down with inflammation late in the season.

The long term health of Eovaldi’s arm should be a major concern for the Yankees at this point. The 26-year-old is a free agent after 2017. This injury probably removes any possibility of extension talks. If he were to undergo TJ surgery, it would spell the end of his Yankees career.

To take his place in the rotation, the Yankees recalled Luis Severino from Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. They had demoted Severino to the minors literally hours before Eovaldi suffered his injury.

The 22-year-old righthander was sent down to work on improving his changeup, which he told reporters Wednesday he had lost confidence in. Severino seemed to make great strides with his slider during his last stint in the minors this year, so it probably made sense for Severino’s long-term outlook to give him a similar chance to refine his change.

Instead, Severino will be forced to work on improving his secondary offerings on the fly in the big leagues.

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Personally, I’m glad to see Luis Severino back on the staff this year. If the Yankees are willing to give him the opportunity to fail without losing his job (which they should be considering they are in fourth place and he’s one of their best young players), than this experience could be even more valuable for him than what he could gain in the minor leagues.