Yankees: How Luis Severino Will Avoid a 2nd Half Collapse in 2019

After a historic start to the 2018 season, Yankees ace Luis Severino hit the skids in the second half. Here’s how Sevy plans to turn that around and help the Yankees win in 2019.

On Friday, the host of The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York, Michael Kay conducted a brief interview with Yankees ace Luis Severino. In the interview, Severino revealed a few things he’s been working on that should get the Yankees fan base excited for the 2019 season.

While Sevy acknowledges that he struggled in the 2nd half last season, he vowed to sustain his dominance throughout the entire 2019 season.

Now, if we delve deeper into Severino’s stats last season, he presented as a sort of Jekyll and Hyde. In his first 18 starts, he was absolutely dominant, featuring a 1.98 ERA, 2.30 FIP, and 0.94 WHIP. In that same stretch, he allowed 2 or fewer runs in 14 of those starts.

For the rest of the season, in 14 starts, Sevy’s stats ballooned to 5.67 ERA, 4.01 FIP, and 1.466 WHIP.

In the interview, Severino attributed his inconsistencies to tiring and also revealed that he was tipping pitches.

You may recall a video that went viral during the ALDS between the Yankees and the Red Sox. In the clip, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. are seen calling Severino’s pitch before it was even delivered.

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Apparently, after analyzing more video, Severino noticed that when there was a man on 2nd, he was stopping and looking at third before throwing a breaking ball. However, as the video above shows, with a fastball, Sevy would go straight to home, a tell that the opposing team caught on to and exploited.

“I’m working on it and it won’t happen again,” Severino exclaimed in the interview

To avoid tiring, this offseason, Severino revealed, has been working to strengthen his shoulders and legs. He also admits, however, that he’d like to lose some weight before the start of the season.

Finally, Severino feels the Yankees have the right team to win it all. In fact, Sevy feels that the Yanks “have to win it all” in 2019.

"“Last year we lost to the Red Sox and they won the World Series. The year before, we lost to the Astros and they won the World Series. So, I think we’re ready and we have to win, we’re ready for it”"

If Severino can sustain the type of productivity he had in the first half of last season, MLB is in trouble. After re-signing J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia, and acquiring James Paxton via trade, the Yankees might arguably have the best rotation in baseball. In fact, according to FanGraphs’ projections, the Yanks are projected to have the best pitching staff, top to bottom, in MLB.

So, what do you think, will the Yankees win it all in 2019?