Yankees' Luis Severino to make season debut Sunday in Cincinnati

TORONTO – Luis Severino is headed to a big-league mound.

Finally.

The righthander, who started the season on the injured list with a right lat strain, will make his 2023 debut Sunday in Cincinnati, Aaron Boone said Wednesday before the third game of what has been a wild series so far against the Blue Jays.

“Health, stuff,” Boone said of what the organization took from Severino’s rehab outing Tuesday night with Double-A Somerset. “He got hit a little bit but I thought his first start in Scranton, the time before, was really good and really sharp. All the stuff was there (Tuesday). He was 95-98 (with his fastball), slider, changeup (were good). Looked healthy. I think he’s ready to go.”

Severino, who allowed two runs and six hits over 3 1/3 innings, threw 58 pitches Tuesday in what was just his second rehab start.

Boone said bringing back Severino (his build-up will continue in the majors) quickly was not a reflection of the borderline disastrous state of the rotation, which lost Domingo German to a 10-game ban Wednesday after being ejected from Tuesday’s game when umpires detected excess stickiness on his hands.

“In my mind, it was more about him coming through all right and healthy and no red flags or anything like that,” Boone said. “And I know Sevy certainly wants to get going up here, regardless of what’s going on (with our rotation). So I’m very comfortable with it.”

For his part, Severino, who because of various injuries has appeared in just 26 games (22 starts) since signing a four-year, $40-million extension in February 2019, declared himself “healthy” to reporters after Tuesday’s outing and ready for the next step, which will be on the mound to face the Reds.

“When you get hit down here, that means you’re ready for the big leagues,” Severino, a free agent after the season, said Tuesday. “That happens every time when you go to a rehab assignment, you get hit. Yeah, I’m big league ready.”

The Yankees agree.

Fat chance

Brad Wilkerson, a Yankees assistant hitting coach and the target of Blue Jays manager John Schneider's "shut up, fat boy" comment from Tuesday night, heard good-natured ribbing pretty much all day from Yankees players and staff on Wednesday. But it did irk plenty on the inside. As one member of the traveling party said of Schneider, who could be described as big-boned and who actually carries a slightly larger physique than Wilkerson: "He (Schneider) should look in the mirror."

Schneider, during a pregame meeting with reporters Wednesday, claimed the remark wasn’t directed at anyone in particular.

“No. Heat of the moment,” Schneider said.

As another member of the Yankees traveling party said, “I mean, it’s on camera. At least own it.”