What a night it was Thursday as two of the elite pitching prospects in baseball took center stage. The New York Yankees top pitching prospect Luis Severino returned from the disabled list to square off against the Baltimore Orioles future ace Dylan Bundy. Expectations were high, and neither star disappointed.
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Severino, No. 21 on the Grading on the Curve Top 50, had just come off the DL after missing 10 games with blisters on his fingers. The 21-year old righty was perfect in his return. Literally perfect. Severino went five strong innings, not allowing a hit, run, or walk while striking out five Bowie BaySox.
"“It was a great outing for him, it was great to bounce back after those 10 days out,” Trenton pitching coach Jose Rosado told Robert Emrich of MiLB.com. “I didn’t expect anything different from what he did today, I was expecting him to go out there and be aggressive. He had everything working. He was able to move his fastball in and out. His slider was good, I would say it’s the best I’ve seen it through the whole year. He was very good, especially commanding that fastball.”"
Dylan Bundy, who comes in at No. 23 on the GotC Top 50, was no slouch either. The 22-year old righty has been working his way back from 2013 Tommy John surgery. The journey has been a slow one, some in part to the Orioles monitoring his progress, some in part to his own struggles with command and soreness. Thursday, he gave a glimpse of what the Orioles hope to have.
Bundy was as equally sharp as Severino, although he was not as perfect. He went four innings, his longest outing of the year. Like his Trenton Thunder counterpart, Bundy didn’t allow a run or a walk while striking out five. He did however allow two hits as the only blemish on an otherwise flawless performance.
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“They both did a good job,” Rosado told Emrich. “It’s always fun when you see two horses going out there and pitching back and forth. They did everything they could to help their team win the game. It was fun to watch two pretty good pitchers.”
It was a big day for the Yankees farm system, as Severino was not the only arm to return from a DL stint. Masahiro Tanaka made his first rehab start for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Tanaka pitched three innings, throwing 25 of his 41 pitches for strikes. He allowed two hits and no runs while striking out two and walking none.
Should Severino continue to progress and Tanaka can come back fully healthy without needing the dreaded Tommy John surgery, things are looking up for the Yankees rotation.