Yankees' Luis Severino Has Spring Start Pushed Back Due to 'General Soreness'

Severino will now throw a bullpen on Wednesday before making his next scheduled start on Saturday.

TAMPA — Yankees right-hander Luis Severino won't make his third outing of the spring on Wednesday after feeling general soreness in his pitching arm, per manager Aaron Boone.

Instead of taking the mound Wednesday night against the Blue Jays at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Severino will throw a bullpen.

The plan as of now, according to Boone, is for Severino to pitch on Saturday—in a home game against the Braves—before pitching in Game 2 of the regular season seven days later.

"He was a little sore coming out his last one so we just wanted to push it back a little bit," Boone said Tuesday afternoon. 

Severino threw 49 pitches in his previous outing on Friday, allowing three earned runs over 1.2 innings pitched against the Phillies in Clearwater. He was roughed up in his Grapefruit League debut as well, permitting four earned runs to score over two frames against the Tigers on March 20. 

Boone added that the plan is for Severino to throw 60 pitches in his next outing on Saturday. 

With Severino's injury history, especially in his elbow and shoulder, any sort of complication—no matter how minor—is a red flag. After all, this is Severino's first full spring training since he underwent Tommy John surgery back in February of 2020.

That said, Boone didn't seem overly concerned about New York's former ace and his ability to bounce back from this spring setback.

Walking through how the Yankees' rotation will play out when the regular season begins, Boone confidently stated that Severino will take the bump in New York's second game of the year against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. He'll start after Gerrit Cole, who takes the ball on Opening Day. After that, Jordan Montgomery, Jameson Taillon and Nestor Cortes will follow in order, barring any changes.

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