TAMPA — Luis Severino is entering a contract year and showed up to spring training looking like it.
Players entering camp in the “best shape of their life” is an overblown cliche, which manager Aaron Boone alluded to as a disclaimer on Saturday before insisting that Severino is in “elite shape right now.”
“Hopefully everything’s lining up for him to have a really great year for us, because we’re certainly counting on it,” Boone said after a workout at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
The Yankees picked up Severino’s $15 million option for this season, which comes at the end of a four-year, $40 million extension that he signed after the 2018 campaign. The right-hander only made 22 starts over the subsequent four seasons because of multiple injuries, but pitched to a 2.85 ERA when healthy.
If Severino is able to avoid the injured list this season — something he hasn’t done since 2018 — he and the Yankees stand to reap the rewards, the pitcher in dollars and the team in wins.
“He’s one of those guys, along with Carlos [Rodon] and Gerrit [Cole], that you never really want to put a ceiling on what they’re capable of doing,” Boone said. “Because it’s capable of being the best at what they do. That’s where Sevy is in his career.”
Last year, Severino missed two months with a right lat strain, but made it back from the 60-day injured list in September to finish with 102 innings and then made two strong postseason starts. He missed all of the 2020 season and most of 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and then having his comeback delayed by groin and shoulder issues. Before that, he missed most of the 2019 season with rotator cuff inflammation and a right lat strain.
That injury history forced the Yankees to keep Severino out of the World Baseball Classic this spring. It will be revisited again whenever a new contract is broached.
But Severino has a chance to change the narrative by staying on the field this season to showcase his high-end talent.
“The bottom line for me is Sevy’s at a place in his career from an age standpoint, from a [point of being] totally through and past his injuries, to coming off a really strong season and building an innings threshold last year, to where now he can go and run a little bit,” Boone said. “Coupled with the fact that not only is there a lot on the line for us as a team and what our expectations are, but this is a guy that’s heading into a walk year and he’s pitching for a lot in that way, too.”