During the mid-afternoon on Thursday, it was announced that arguably the New York Yankees top prospect-pitcher Luis Severino-was being promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
While the news seemed to come out of nowhere, it shouldn’t surprise Yankees fans that Serevino is rising through the ranks rather quickly; in early 2015, MLB.com ranked him the 23rd best prospect in all of baseball.
At first glance, you could pass Severino on the street with out blinking an eye. The baby-faced pitcher is only 21 years old and weighs 190 pounds soaking wet. When you see him pitch, however, you can tell why he is on the fast track to the Bronx. Severino possesses a mean fastball that regularly reaches the mid-90s, but has topped out at a whopping 99 miles per hour. He uses a late breaking change up as his secondary pitch, while slowly integrating a slider into his repertoire.
If his natural stuff doesn’t impress you, his numbers certainly will.
After rising through the system quickly, Severino made his Double-A debut in late 2014, where he stayed until his call up today. With arguably the best minor league talent at that level, Severino proved his worth. In total, Severino went 4-4 with an even 3.00 earned run average. At first glance, the numbers don’t “wow” you. If you dig deeper, however, you can see why he is so highly regarded. In 63 innings pitched, Severino gave up only 52 hits and 21 earned runs. On top of that, he has displayed a downright dominant strikeout to walk ratio, striking out 77 while only walking 16. Translate those numbers per nine innings, and Severino averages 7.4 hits, 2.3 walks and 11 strikeouts.
While AAA doesn’t display talent with as much upside as the Double-A level, it does have “major league ready” ball players. With this move, the club seems to want to see how Severino can compete against more mature talent. With question marks surrounding the back end of the starting rotation, a Triple-A call up could signal a big league promotion at some point this season.
While I, personally, would love to see one of the teams best prospects on the main roster this season, I believe there are better avenues to go down.
Bryan Mitchell, the top pitcher on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre staff, not only has a full season of Triple-A under his belt, but he also has big league experience. In three appearances (one start), Mitchell has a 2.45 ERA, giving up 10 hits while striking out seven in 11 innings. If a pitcher like Chris Capuano continues to struggle, I would expect Mitchell to get the first crack.
Although he doesn’t seem ready for the Bronx just yet, the fact that, at 21-years old, Severino has already been promoted to Triple-A shows that the Yankees believe they have a stud on their hands. However, be patient Yankees fans: we will be able to enjoy him in the years to come.
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