Before we head into the holiday weekend, I had to devote a post to the dramatic improvement Luis Severino has shown so far in 2017. After a rapid rise through the minors in 2015 -- and some fine starts for the Yanks during August and September, the young Dominican seemed snakebit and then lost when he began 2016 in the rotation. After spending part of the summer trying to recapture his form, he returned mid-season as a reliever. He quickly took to that role, leading some observers (and, yes I am one of them) to wonder if his future home would be the bullpen.
Give Joe Girardi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild credit. They kept believing in Severino's potential as a front-end starter. And their confidence has been repaid by several outstanding efforts this season -- none better than Wednesday night's eight dominant innings of shutout ball against the Royals.
While every team is eager to develop its young pitching, based on recent results, the Yankees are doing an above-average job. Severino has been strong in '17, while rookie lefthander Jordan Montgomery -- who would have been Tuesday night's story had the New York bullpen not melted down -- has done well even though he's likely a year ahead of schedule.
These images of Severino are from his major league debut on August 5th, 2015.
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