Are the Yankees Ruining Luis Severino with the ‘Joba Treatment’?

After a disastrous seven-run outing that resulted in a 12-3 Yankees loss, Yankees optioned Luis Severino to the minors once again.

The 22-year-old prospect was flipped between the majors and the minors several times this year, and the front office has hoped for him to return to his 2015 season form when he started 11 games for the team with a 2.89 ERA. Yet, through such indecision, are the Yankees giving him the “Joba treatment?”

For one to understand the term “Joba treatment,” the former Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain is referenced. Once deemed an exciting prospect like Severino, after a successful year in the bullpen and rotation, a 23-year-old Chamberlain was expected to become an ace in 2009.

Yet, he struggled as a starter, and the Yankees kept flipping him between the bullpen and the rotation, thus somehow ruining his potential as a starting pitcher.

Eventually, Chamberlain was unable to provide for the team from the bullpen. As he flipped between the minors and the majors between 2012-13, his gleaming potential as a pitcher faded, and he left in 2014 for free agency.

In 2016, we have a similar case still in its seed days with Severino. After his successful stint in 2015, Severino has been unable to find consistency.

He has the stuff of an ace, and as manager Joe Girardi noted to ESPN earlier this season, “Long-term, we have to get things straightened out. This isn’t a guy who is 34 or 35, who has a long track record. This is a kid with a lot of talent.”

He even compared him to Roy Halladay, who won 213 games in his career as an ace for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies. When on the mound in Triple-A this year, Severino has looked like Halladay, winning seven out 10 starts. 

However, the pitching prodigy seems devoid of any confidence when on a major league mound, and it’s hard to discern if that has anything to do with the Yankees showing distrust by optioning him so many times.

The young Severino has plenty of time to own his arsenal and build his confidence, but it’s hard to not imagine him succumbing to Chamberlain’s fate.

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The positive is that like Severino, Halladay was also sent back to the minors to work on his pitches and confidence. We all know how that went. Hopefully, it goes that way for Severino as well.