New York Yankees: Luis Severino questioned about his warmup routine

The New York Yankees lost game three of the ALDS against the Boston Red Sox and the warmup routine of their starting pitcher was a large topic following the game.

During the TBS broadcast of the rivalry ALDS matchup between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, current announcer and former New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling questioned the warmup routine of Luis Severino.

The broadcast showed a timestamp of Severino beginning to warm up at 7:32 pm EST.  The reason this start time was questioned was due to fact that the first pitch was scheduled to take place at 7:40 pm EST.  As the young starter delivered the first pitch of the game late at 7:42 pm EST, it makes sense why he was being questioned about the timing of his warmup routine.

According to an interview with Coley Harvey of ESPN, Severino, manager Aaron Boone, and pitching coach Larry Rothschild all denied that his warmup routine began late or became rushed.

Severino told ESPN: “I mean, if my pitching coach said that [it was late] to you, you can believe it.  But [Darling] is not always in my bullpen, so how does he know what’s going on?”

Rothschild stated: “Sevy’s always been pretty short.  He didn’t rush to get in there or any of that stuff.  He was able to sit down for three or four minutes and go out.”

Boone added: “He had what he intended to go down there and get done.”

Severino continued: “I came out 20 minutes before the game like I usually do.  I don’t know why he was saying that.  I don’t know who that guy is, either.”

Although Severino and his coaching staff are denying a lack of preparation as the reason for his poor performance, he did not look to be as sharp as he was to start out the Wild Card game.  Against the Oakland A’s on October 3rd, Severino only threw 10 pitches while compiling two strikeouts.

He also threw nine of those pitches at 96 mph or higher, with a slider at 89 mph being the only pitch below 96 mph.  Prior to this game, he started warming up more than 8 minutes before the scheduled start time as timestamps show he began his routine 15 minutes prior to the start of the Wild Card game.

Following his shorter warmup routine against the Red Sox last night, Severino threw 15 pitches with zero strikeouts.  He only threw 4 of the pitches 96 mph or higher, as he stuck with change-ups and sliders for most of the inning.

Aside from a walk to J.D. Martinez, each of his three outs were fly outs to center fielder Brett Gardner.  Although Andrew Benintendi did not hit his very far, the fly outs by Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts could have likely been home runs if it was not for the weather holding them in the park.

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In the second inning, Severino mishandled a ground ball that should have resulted in a 1-3 put out to end the inning.  Instead, it bounced off his glove for an infield single and the first run of the game scored.  In the third inning, he allowed three hits and a sac-fly, which caused two more runs to score.

Although he looked done after three innings, Severino was surprisingly back on the mound for a fourth inning.  He allowed a single to Brock Holt, a single to Christian Vazquez, and a walk to Jackie Bradley Jr. before he was finally removed from the game.  Lance Lynn came in next and allowed all three of the inherited runners to score.  This caused Severino to end his night with a line of 3.0+ innings pitched while allowing 7 hits and 6 earned runs.

If the poor start by Severino was not due to the short warmup routine, it will be interesting to see if he loses his rotation spot if his team is able to come back in this series to advance to the ALCS.  The Yankees already have a deep bullpen, so adding Severino would make it even deeper.

In 2016, he went 3-0 as a reliever with a 0.39 ERA and a 0.771 WHIP over 11 appearances.  In the 11 appearances as a starter that season, Severino was 0-8 with an 8.50 ERA and a 1.783 WHIP.  As he has previous success as a reliever, it could make sense to start someone such as Sonny Gray, Jonathan Holder, or Lynn, with Severino ready to go if any of them get into trouble early.

Nonetheless, the Yankees have a tough task ahead of them with their backs against the wall in game 4 at their own stadium.  As the Red Sox clinched the AL East following a regular season game in the Bronx, they will be looking to earn a trip to the ALCS on the same field.  On the other hand, the Yankees will be looking to force a game 5 for a trip back to Fenway Park to determine who moves on to the ALCS and who goes home.