Yankees place Luis Severino on injured list with lat strain

It wasn’t the worst-case scenario for Luis Severino, but it was far from the best-case, either.

The righthander, who left Wednesday night’s game as he started warming up in the third inning because of discomfort in his shoulder, was placed on the injured list Thursday with what the club called a “low grade right lat strain.”

Still, while the MRI results could have produced worse results, given Severino’s injury history there will be considerable amount of concern surrounding his condition until the pitcher is officially back on a big-league mound.

“A little sore. Nothing terrible,” Severino said in the clubhouse Thursday before the Yankees made the IL announcement.

Righthander Ryan Weber, recalled Thursday afternoon as the Yankees figured Severino would likely be IL bound, took his spot on the roster

Severino, who coming into this season had appeared in a total of seven games the previous three years because of an assortment of injuries, pulled himself from Wednesday’s game after throwing multiple warmup pitches before the top of the third inning.

From the start of the outing, Severino didn’t look right. He struggled with his fastball velocity, with one first-inning fastball coming in at just 91 mph (when right, Severino typically sits in the mid to high 90s with his fastball velocity).

“He, obviously, knows his body well and with the injury history he’s had over the last few years and what he’s had to deal with, we weren’t going to mess with it,” Aaron Boone said Thursday afternoon.

“A little sore,” Severino said of how he felt waking up Thursday morning. “I’m not an expert on injures, but I don’t think it’s anything bad. I can play catch. I don’t know if I can throw 100% but I definitely can go out there and play catch.”

Something Severino, 5-3 with a 3.45 ERA in 16 starts this season, probably won’t probably do for at least the next week or so.  

Was Severino less worried Thursday than the night before?  

“No, my concern is the same,” Severino said. “Yesterday, coming out of the game, something wasn’t feeling right. Waking up that day, my shoulder wasn’t feeling like my normal. Why push it? Why push it now? I’ll take a couple days off and hopefully be good.”

Regardless of the initial prognosis, Thursday’s news nonetheless brought back the feelings of frustration the 28-year-old had become all too familiar in recent years.

After signing a four-year, $40 million extension in February 2019, Severino pitched in just 18 innings the next three seasons. He underwent Tommy John surgery in February 2020 and a series of setbacks during that rehab kept him from returning until September 2021.

After a solid and at times standout spring training – and, more significant, a healthy one – Severino had no doubt he could recapture the form that made him a two-time All-Star, in 2017 and ’18. But his health, for obvious reasons, was never far from his thoughts.

“I haven’t pitched in such a long time that every time I feel something, I’m worried because I don’t know what’s going to be next,” Severino said toward the end of spring training. “I’ve had so many injuries — shoulder, elbow, groin — so every time I feel something, go right away to the trainers to try to fix it quick . . . for me, going through everything I’ve been through, it’s more about mind games right now. I know my body’s good now. I know that I can control my fastball, I can throw all my pitches and the next day wake up and feel good. That’s the main thing for me.”