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The New York Mets signed starting pitcher Luis Severino to a one-year, $13 million deal on November 29, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. They officially introduced the hurler to the media alongside his former New York Yankees teammate, outfielder Harrison Bader on January 10.
In his first public appearance as a member of the Mets, Severino was completely honest regarding his thoughts on remaining in New York but switching boroughs for the 2024 season. He simply said, “I thought I was going to die a Yankee.”
He also went on to discuss how he was looking for the “same pressure” with the next team he signed with. New York fans don’t hold back their displeasure when a player isn’t performing up to standard. Severino specifically mentioned how he likes that, saying “I need that in my life. I need people that tell me the truth when I’m not doing good.”
These comments were captured by SNY’s Yankees account on X (formerly Twitter).
Severino Loves the Pressure of Playing in New York
Even though Severino’s Yankees tenure ended sooner than anticipated, he was still with them for a very long time.
He made his organizational debut with the Bombers as an 18-year-old in 2012 in the Dominican Summer League. Sevy quickly climbed through the farm system and made his MLB debut in 2015 as a 21-year-old. While he struggled to stay healthy between 2019 and 2023, his earlier years in the Bronx were extremely productive.
The peak was from 2017-18. It included consecutive All-Star Game selections and two straight top-10 finishes in American League Cy Young voting. Severino tossed more than 190 innings on both occasions, which remain the only times he’s accumulated more than 102 frames in a single season. Across these two campaigns, the righty went 33-14 with a 3.18 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 450 strikeouts in 384.2 innings.
Pitching for the Yankees comes with lots of pressure and high expectations. As former Yankee Jordan Montgomery once said, “The pinstripes are heavy.” The Bombers reached the playoffs seven times during Sevy’s time with the club, which included three trips to the American League Championship Series. While he hasn’t had the best postseason results (5.15 ERA in 43.2 innings), he knows what that pressure is like.
More importantly, he enjoys pitching in that environment. SNY’s X account captured Severino expanding more on this topic. “The thing that keeps me going is the pressure,” he said. “I love being under pressure. I was in New York for a long time. I’m happy to be with this organization, the Mets, because I want to continue to feel that pressure.”
A Potential Key to Severino Bouncing Back in 2024
The 2023 season was a trying one for Severino. It was once again abbreviated because of injury. He appeared in 19 games (18 starts) for the Yankees, pitching a total of 89.1 innings. It led to career-worst numbers in ERA (6.65), WHIP (1.65), hits allowed per nine innings (11.4) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.32).
While chatting with reporters, Severino said he had problems tipping pitches and it’s something he’ll be looking to address, per Mojo Hill of Metsmerized. This issue isn’t a new one, though. The Athletic’s Will Sammon and Brendan Kuty shared a report about it on January 4. They mentioned Sevy dealing with pitch tipping issues since at least 2018.
According to FanGraphs, the two pitches that have suffered the most recently are his four-seam fastball and slider. Opposing hitters saw their OPS against Sevy’s four-seamers improve from .622 in 2022 to 1.098 in 2023. The opposition’s OPS against his sliders had a similar trajectory, going from .560 in 2022 to .891 in 2023.
Severino thought he’d die a Yankee, but it wasn’t meant to be. Now he’s a Met and hopes he can regain his All-Star form in a familiar setting.
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