We need to figure out what’s wrong with Luis Severino
Luis Severino was a dominant starter for the Yankees during the first half of the season. The disappearance of his fastball now has him in crisis mode.
For the first few months of the 2018 season, the Yankees could comfortably project Luis Severino to be the ace of their postseason rotation. His recent slump is now the cause for serious concern in the Bronx. If the playoffs started today, the team would be very nervous about putting Severino on the hill in a crucial game.
The one time Yankees’ ace has now given up 23 runs in his last 26 innings pitched. That equates to an ERA of 7.50 in his last seven starts. There’s no question over whether or not Severino is in a slump. The only important question for Yankees’ brass now is how they can fix whatever is going on with the talented right hander.
Most pitchers who suffer this kind of sudden loss of effectiveness can usually point to a sudden decrease in the effectiveness of their off speed repertoire. Hanging curveballs or sliders left up in the zone tend to get hit hard by quality MLB batters. That isn’t what’s happening to Severino.
Instead, it’s his fastball that is getting pounded by anyone and everyone as of late. When July began, Severino was the hardest throwing starter in the game. It’s possible the amount of sheer force he was using to hurl the ball towards the plate early in the season is starting to catch up to him now.
Lately, his velocity has been off by a couple of miles per hour in every start. Throwing the ball 97 mph is still really good for most pitchers, but it’s not the pitch Severino is used to having in his arsenal. The Yankees star was regularly running fastballs up in excess of 100 mph when he was dominating hitters early in the campaign.
It’s not just a velocity issue though. When you watch Severino pitch now it’s clear the fastball doesn’t have the same life it had earlier in the year. It appears to be much more straight in his last handful of starts. Good hitters can square his stuff up now even when it’s registering in the high-90s on the radar gun.
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What the Yankees need to do now is to give Severino some space and time to rediscover the magic he had earlier in the year. If they don’t, he could be a below-average starter for the rest of the season. That would ruin the Yankees’ chances of having a solid run in October. Getting Severino back to his best should be the organization’s top priority until he’s right again. If that’s going to happen, Severino will have to rediscover his fastball.