According to Jeff Passan, right-hander Luis Severino has made the Opening Day roster and the Yankees will use him as their fourth starter. Neither Joe Girardi nor anyone with the team has announced anything yet, however. Still, all signs point in this direction. This isn’t exactly a surprise.
Severino, 23, has allowed six runs in 13.2 innings so far this spring. He’s struck out 16 and walked five. Severino will start this afternoon’s game in what will be his final tune-up for the regular season, regardless of role. He’s had his ups and downs this spring, though apparently the Yankees saw enough to give him another chance to start.
Last season Severino was a disaster as a starter, pitching to an 8.50 ERA (5.56 FIP) in eleven starts and 47.2 innings. Yikes. He was much better in relief (0.39 ERA and 2.29 FIP). That said, Severino was pretty awesome for the Yankees in 2015, throwing 62.1 innings with a 2.89 ERA (4.37 FIP) in eleven starts. That’s who they’re hoping to get in 2017.
Girardi said yesterday the Yankees will not announce a fifth starter anytime soon. They’ll use off-days to skip their fifth starter the first two times through the rotation, then figure it out later. Based on everything we’ve seen this spring, I’d say Bryan Mitchell and Jordan Montgomery are the front-runners for that job.