Luis Severino

At 30 years old, Luis Severino has this physical status:

Luis Severino (born February 20, 1994) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB).

In 2015, he made his Major League debut.

After a rough 2016 season, he emerged as one of the league's best pitchers in 2017, winning the American League Cy Young Award and finishing third.

Personal life

Severino is from Sabana de la Mar, Venezuela's Hato Mayor province. He grew up a fan of the Yankees, particularly fellow Dominican Robinson Canó. Severino and his partner, Rosmaly, have one daughter, who was born in July 2015. Luis Jr., Severino's second child, was born on July 8, 2021.

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Career

On December 26, 2011, Severino agreed to a $225,000 signing bonus after being signed by the New York Yankees as an international free agent. He had agreed to terms to join the Colorado Rockies, but a Yankees scout beat their offer and compelled Severino to play for the team he had grown up with. He could throw his fastball at 91 mph (146 kilometers per hour) at the time. He made his professional debut with the Dominican Summer League (DSL) Yankees 1st year. He played in 14 games, contributing to a 4–2 win-loss record (ERA) and 45 strikeouts in 64+1, 3 innings. He started with the DSL Yankees 1 in 2013 and was promoted to the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League during the season. He went 4–2 with a 2.45 ERA, 53 strikeouts over 44 innings in ten games (eight starts). At Charleston, his fastball speed hit 97 mph (156 km/h).

Baseball America rated him as the Yankees ninth-best prospect heading into the 2014 season. Severino started the season with Charleston before being promoted to the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. He was selected to participate in the 2014 All-Star Futures Game in Tampa following his promotion to Tampa. He was promoted to the Trenton Thunder of the Class AA Eastern League after the Futures Game. Severino dominated the three clubs with a 2.46 ERA, 127 strikeouts, and 27 walks in 24 games (all starts) and 113 innings pitched. Severino was rated as the best prospect in the Yankees farm system and the 23rd best out of all minor league players by MLB Pipeline before the 2015 season. By Baseball America, he ranked 35th in the top 35 players.

Severino was in 38 innings pitched across eight games in 2015, where he had a 2–2 win-loss record and 48 strikeouts. He was promoted to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Class AAA International League, where he worked with RailRiders' pitching coach Scott Aldred to enhance his pitching delivery. In 11 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Severino pitched to a 7–0 win-loss record and a 1.91 ERA. With the Yankees in the playoffs, the Yankees made Severino unavailable in trade negotiations for pitchers David Price, Cole Hamels, and Johnny Cueto until the MLB trade deadline of July 31.

Brian Cashman, the Yankees' general manager, announced that Severino's next game against the Boston Red Sox, his primary rival of the Yankees, will be played in the major leagues against Michael Pineda in late-July and that the Yankees will not have a starting pitcher until the trade deadline. Despite Severino's career-best record of 113 innings pitched in the 2014 season, Cashman said Severino will not be limited in how many innings he throws over the remainder of the 2015 season, in part because they limited his innings earlier this season.

Joe Girardi, the Yankees' general manager, made Severino's debut in the major leagues on August 5. In his debut, Severino pitched five innings, yielding two hits, two runs (one earned), with seven strikeouts and no walks. He was the youngest pitcher to get off to a good start in the 2015 MLB season at age 21. In addition, he was the first AL pitcher to strike out seven batters while walking none and allowing no more than two hits in their rookie major league debut. With a 5–3 record, 2.89 ERA, and 56 strikeouts, he concluded his rookie season with 11 games, starting 62+13 innings, pitching 62+13 innings, bringing a 5–3 record, 5.89 ERA, and 56 strikeouts.

Severino was in the Yankees starting rotation for the first time in 2016. After giving up 7 runs in 2.2 innings in a game against the Chicago White Sox on May 13, 2016, Severino left the game with an apparent injury. Due to right triceps inflammation, he was admitted to the 15-day disabled list the next day. He was added to the disabled list on May 30, 2016 and optioned to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders. He was called back on July 25 and was mainly used as a relief for the remainder of the season. Severino was recalled for the first time in his Major League career after beating Justin Smoak with a pitch on September 26. Josh Donaldson was elbowed on the arm, and Blue Jays rookie J. In the first inning, A. Happ hit Chase Headley with a pitch.

Severino ended the 2016 season with a 3–8 record and a 5.83 ERA. He went 0–8 with an 8.50 ERA and 1.78 WHIP in his 11 starts. However, he went 3–0 with a 0.39 ERA and 0.77 WHIP in his 11 relief appearances.

Severino was named as the Yankees fourth starter in spring training. The Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 32-0 on April 13, 2017, Severino hitting a career-high 11 batters in seven innings. In a 4–1 loss to the Chicago White Sox, Severino struck out ten batters in a career-high eight innings. Severino pitched seven shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox on April 26, Severino pitched seven shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox. Severino pitched eight shutout innings against the Kansas City Royals on May 24, the Kansas City Royals. He had a 5–2 record with a 2.75 ERA as of June 10, his highest record as of June 10. In a no-decision victory over the White Sox on June 27, he struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven innings, giving the Bullpen a lead for the sixth time in Severino's history. Despite his good start, Severino struggled to close the first half, giving 16 earned runs in four starts from June 15 to July 2, the first time in that period. He finished his first half on a high note by striking out ten batters in seven innings of three-run ball against the Milwaukee Brewers on July 8, his fourth start of the season, with at least 10 strikeouts. Severino was selected to the American League All-Star team alongside his teammates Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Starlin Castro, and Dellin Betances. He had a 3.54 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 106+13 innings in the first half of the season. His 10.50 strikeout-per-9 ratio ranked in the top five of the American League, ranked in the top five.

Severino started the second half strong, first defeating Chris Sale by allowing one run over seven innings in a pitcher's duel against the Red Sox. He fired seven shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners and then allowed zero earned runs in seven innings against the Cincinnati Reds in his first appearance. In the 2017 season, Severino was tied for second-most starts (82) with one earned run or less, behind Clayton Kershaw's 11. Severino struck Steven Matz against the New York Mets on August 17, 2017. On August 23, he won his 11th game with the Detroit Tigers on a single earned run over 6+2/3 innings with eight strikeouts. Severino fired out his 200th batter of the season on September 3, beating Al Downing in 1964 for his second straight games in one season. He went 9-2 in 14 starts, his lowest run in ten of those starts was in the second half of the season.

Severino had a career-high 193+13 innings in 31 starts, tied for the third-most single-season strikeouts in Yankees history, as well as the most strikeouts in a single season by a right-handed pitcher in the Modern Era (post 1920). He was also the first Yankee starter to qualify for the ERA with a sub-3.00 ERA, and Andy Pettitte did so in 1997 and became the youngest Yankee starter to do so since Dave Righetti in 1981. His 16 starts in one run enabled or less to lead the major leagues, as well as Mike Mussina's first Yankee starter to have 16 starts with one or no runs allowed in a single season and the youngest pitcher in the major leagues to reach this record since 1985. Since Roger Clemens in 1986, he was the first American League pitcher with an ERA below 3.00 and 230 or more strikeouts in their age-23 season or younger. With an average fastball speed of 97.6 miles per hour, he led all major league pitchers.

Severino was selected to start the 2017 American League Wild Card Game after losing three earned runs in one-third of an inning, tied for the fewest outings by a Yankees pitcher in the postseason. As the Yankees lost to the Houston Astros in seven games in the American League Championship Series, he continued to finish the 2017 postseason with a 1–1 record and a 5.68 ERA in 16 innings (4 starts). Severino was named a finalist for the American League Cy Young Award on November 6, 2005. In the poll, he came in third, behind Corey Kluber and Chris Sale. For a total of 73 points, he received 20 third-place votes, 6 fourth-place votes, and 1 fifth place vote.

The Yankees announced Severino as their Opening Day starter on March 17, 2018. In 5+2/3 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays, he struck out seven batters and allowed one to strike out in 5+2/3 innings. Severino pitched a complete game against the Houston Astros on May 2, 2018, shutting out the Astros 4–0. Severino allowed zero runs and struck out 10. Severino went for ten straight starts from April 16 to June 4, with three earned runs or less allowed in six of those cases (in six of those he allowed one or no earned runs) and walking just 14 batters, limiting opponents to a.184 batting average. On June 16, Severino won his 10th game of the season after limiting the Rays to three hits and two walks in eight shutout innings, double his win number prior to the All-Star break in 2017, and becoming the first Yankee pitcher to win ten or more games prior to the All-Star break since Masahiro Tanaka in 2014. Severino was the first Yankee since CC Sabathia in 2011 to win 13 games before the All-Star break after throwing 6+2/3 shutout innings to defeat the Red Sox.

Severino was selected to the 2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, his second straight pick, despite his 14-2 record and a 2.12 ERA. He ended the season 14–2 in 20 starts, with 144 strikeouts against 32 walks in 128+1,3 innings, a.209 opponent batting average, and 1.01 WHIP. With 14 wins since Mel Stottlemyre in 1969, Severino became the first Yankees pitcher to do so (Lefty Gomez and Whitey Ford did so in 1934 and 1961, respectively, with Ford winning the most pre-All Star games with 16).

He was 19-08-2008, with a 3.39 ERA for the season. He had the best line drive percentage allowed (25.9%) of all major league pitchers. For the second year in a row, he led all major league pitchers at 97.6 mph.

Severino began the 2018 American League Wild Card Game.

Severino's four-year, $40 million contract extension began on February 15, 2019, with a club option for a fifth season worth an additional $12.25 million.

Severino was diagnosed with rotator cuff inflammation on his right shoulder on March 15, according to the company. Because of this, he was out of action for the remainder of April. Severino was diagnosed with a Grade 2 lat strain on April 9, ruling him out for another six weeks. He did not participate in any rehabilitation programs until September. He made his Yankee debut against the Los Angeles Angels in New York on September 17, 2019 and made two more appearances in the regular season.

It was announced on February 25, 2020, that Severino would have Tommy John surgery to repair a partially torn UCL in his right elbow, putting an end to his 2020 season. On February 27, he underwent the surgery as well as removing a bone chip from his right elbow.

As he began to recover from Tommy John surgery on February 22, 2021, Severino was placed on the 60-day wounded list. Severino sustained a groin injury while doing a rehabilitation session with the Hudson Valley Renegades on June 12, 2021, and was hospitalized until August. Severino suffered another setback after starting "not feeling right" during warmups before a game. For the first time in 706 days, Severino was activated off the injury list on September 20, 2021.

Severino became the longest-tenured Yankee in 2022, with Brett Gardner not re-signing for the 2022 season. Severino pitched seven no-hit innings against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on October 4, before manager Aaron Boone pulled him from the game with 94 pitches. When Josh Jung took a batter off of Yankees reliever Miguel Castro in the eighth inning, the potential combined no-hitter was dismantled.

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