Luis Severino pleased with first bullpen session since lat injury

CLEVELAND — Luis Severino cleared the first significant step in his rehab from the lat strain he suffered late in spring training, throwing a bullpen session at Progressive Field on Monday afternoon.

“Good,” Severino said after the 22-pitch session. “I think it was everything I was expecting. First bullpen in a while, so I was working on my pitches and location. I’m not there yet, but I’m not worried about that. I was worried about my health.”

Which, at the moment, appears headed in the right direction.

But for Severino, who appeared in only seven games (three starts) between 2019-21 because of a variety of injuries and was limited to 19 starts last season because of a 60-day IL stint caused by a lat strain, that truly is a day-to-day thing.

One early positive development in Severino’s rehab is that the righthander said he hasn’t felt anything in the lat area since about a week after the injury was announced March 25. Severino said if he comes in Tuesday feeling good, he hopes to throw another bullpen session in “two or three days.”

“We’ll see [Tuesday] how I feel and then we’re going to go from there,” he said.

Because of Severino’s extensive injury history since signing a four-year, $40 million extension during spring training in 2019, the Yankees are taking a conservative route with his rehab. They hope to have him back in the rotation by early May but are not putting a timetable on it.

“First thing was getting through today and it sounds like that went pretty well, so we’ll see,” Aaron Boone said. “I don’t know exactly the plan.”

Leading man

With DJ LeMahieu rested — he grounded out as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning — Gleyber Torres led off Monday. The second baseman, who entered Monday having reached base in 19 of 37 plate appearances, doubled and scored in the first inning and walked in the second.