HOUSTON — New York Yankees right-hander Luis Severino will be shut down for the next six weeks after an MRI revealed a Grade 2 lat strain on his right side.
The injury, revealed in an MRI done in New York on Tuesday, is separate from the right rotator cuff inflammation he was originally diagnosed with during spring training.
Since the lat strain didn’t present itself on the MRI that Severino had after he was diagnosed with the rotator cuff inflammation, it is believed he may have developed the lat strain at some point during the rehab throwing program he has been under the past two weeks.
While out the next six weeks, Severino won’t throw at all, the team said.
Manager Aaron Boone said Monday that the Yankees were sending Severino from their facility in Tampa, Florida, to New York in order to undergo a reevaluation by head team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad.
In recent days, Severino hadn’t been feeling pain, Boone said. But the team’s ace also hadn’t been feeling comfortable enough in his rehab to graduate to getting back on the mound. Since his throwing program resumed at the end of March after a three-week stint of inactivity, Severino had done only some long-toss and gotten to throwing from about 130 feet off flat ground.
According to Boone, Severino was having some of his best rehab work over the weekend.
Boone also reported that Severino “didn’t feel as great” on Monday after playing catch in Tampa, which led to the decision to send him for more testing.
Severino has not pitched off a mound since experiencing shoulder discomfort following a warm-up pitch before his first spring training start March 5. The Yankees initially shut him down for three weeks and scratched him from his Opening Day start. They had hoped he would be able to rejoin the rotation by mid-April, but general manager Brian Cashman later pushed that to around May 1.
Clearly, he won’t return until after that point now.
About two hours before the findings of the MRI were announced, Boone said he believed in the Yankees’ current pitchers in the event Severino’s news wouldn’t be too favorable.
“We’ve already seen a lot of quality pitchers step up for us,” Boone said. “We’ve seen some young pitchers take more steps for us. So yeah, we feel like we’re equipped to handle a lot of things.”
Severino went 19-8 with a 3.39 ERA last season. Earlier this spring, he signed a four-year, $40 million contract extension.