Yankees Making Changeup Luis Severino’s Top Priority

New York Yankees pitcher Luis Severino’s main focus for the remainder of 2016 will be improving his changeup so he can remain a starting option for the future.

While Luis Severino’s final stat line was pretty ugly in his most recent start with Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre, Yankees fans shouldn’t be too worried. The team basically has the 22-year-old righthander in spring training mode at this point. The results don’t matter.

Severino’s top priority at this point is developing a viable third pitch that ensures he can remain a starting pitcher long-term. The former top prospect has been dominant pitching out of the bullpen for New York this year, throwing 8.1 shutout innings, striking out 10 and allowing just one hit.

The young phenom has made strides with improving the location of his slider this season, giving him two quality pitches. His blazing high 90’s fastball and sweeping slider are more than enough to make him an excellent late-inning reliever in the big leagues. However the Yankees want to do everything they can to keep Severino in the rotation, where he has the potential to be far more valuable.

More from Yankees Minor Leagues

• Yankees add to championship core with Wilmer Difo signing
• Yankees’ Jasson Dominguez ranks in tough spot on Arizona Fall League Top Prospects list
• Yankees protect only 1 top prospect from 2022 Rule 5 Draft, take major risk
• Scouts ripping Yankees’ Jasson Dominguez’s AFL performance need to get real
• Ranking Yankees prospects heading to Arizona Fall League

Through nine big league starts this season, Severino has an 8.58 ERA. Batters are hitting .340/.280/.596 off of him and he’s allowing 2.09 home runs per nine innings. His strikeout and walk numbers are basically fine, but hitters are able to sit on his fastball without an effective changeup in his arsenal.

In his last big league start, he allowed seven earned runs on eight hits in just 3.2 innings of work. He struck out an impressive batters in that span while just walking one, but he was simply too hittable. Severino was demoted to Triple-A for the third time this season right after the game.

His next start came for the Railriders and the numbers weren’t any better. He did strike out 10 Paw Sox hitters in Scranton’s 7-4 come from behind victory, but he also allowed 10 hits and four runs in 5.2 IP. However, Severino told Shane Hennigan of The Times-Tribune that he was told by the front office not to worry about results at this point:

"They told me to throw more changeups. [The Yankees] told me they didn’t care what the score is. They told me I had to throw changeups and that’s what I did."

He does not sound especially happy about this mandate from the Yankees brass, but it is definitely what is best for his development if he wants to stick as a starter. Severino went on to tell Hennigan:

"I’m a guy who throws fastball, slider, and then changeups. I don’t like to throw a lot of changeups, but I know I have to throw it more and more and more. It’s difficult to command a pitch when you don’t want to throw it."

At this point, the Yankees just need to keep Severino down in Triple-A through the end of the season and let him work on the change as much as possible. The Railriders are closing in on a playoff spot, so they can give him a few playoff starts to extend his season.

Next: Clint Frazier Making a Case for September Call Up

It doesn’t hurt that the Yankees will gain an extra year of control over Severino by keeping him in the minors another week or two. He’ll probably be back up in the bigs at some point in September, but New York should probably ease him back into things in the bullpen and avoid him continuing to get shellacked by big league hitters.