Yankees Notebook: Luis Severino ‘not thinking about’ future with team after season-ending injury

Luis Severino isn’t focusing on his Yankees future yet, the impending free agent said the morning after learning his left oblique strain would be season-ending.

An MRI revealed Severino suffered a high-grade strain during Friday night’s start against the Brewers, which caused him to leave during the fifth inning.

“I’m not happy [with] the way that it went, but I’m happy it’s not going to take a full year or two [to recover],” Severino said Sunday.

Severino said Friday he experienced a “deep, sharp pain” on his 70th pitch of the outing, adding, “I feel like somebody shot me.”

Asked Sunday if he could’ve thrown his final pitch with the Yankees, Severino replied, “I don’t know.”

“I’m not thinking about that,” Severino said. “I just think about ways to get better. If it is, I gave it everything I got.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed after Saturday’s MRI that Severino was done for the season but said the hard-throwing right-hander should recover in time to train normally in the offseason.

Severino said Sunday he was feeling better but still experiencing a sharp pain on certain movements. He was told such an injury typically requires about six weeks of healing before playing catch can resume.

The ailment ends a challenging season for Severino, who missed nearly two months to begin the year with a right lat strain, then struggled to a 4-8 record and 6.65 ERA.

“It’s been a pretty tough year, physically, mentally,” Severino said. “I just wanted to be out there, be healthy, be helping my team.”

Severino, 29, debuted with the Yankees in 2015 at age 21. He was an All-Star in 2017 and 2018 and finished within the top 10 of AL Cy Young Award voting in both of those seasons.

A rash of injuries, including an elbow tear that required Tommy John surgery in 2020, limited Severino to seven regular-season games from 2019-21.

“He’s obviously, at times, been a great pitcher,” Boone said Saturday. “The start of his career as a starter was so promising as really one of the dominant starters. Even through the injuries that he’s experienced over the last few years, when he has been healthy, he’s shown you that performance.”

Severino is set to enter free agency with a 54-37 record, a 3.79 ERA and 788 strikeouts over 727.1 in 141 career games.

YANKEES MONITORING JAPANESE STAR

Japanese superstar Yoshinobu Yamamoto certainly made a strong impression with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman watching.

Cashman was in the front row Saturday when Yamamoto, 25, threw the second no-hitter of his career for the Orix Buffaloes. Yankees advisor Omar Minaya also made the trip to Japan and watched Yamamoto, who could be posted for an MLB team to acquire this offseason.

“I heard he’s really good,” Boone said Sunday.

Asked if the trip to Japan indicated the Yankees’ interest, Boone replied with a laugh, “I would imagine there’s some interest.”

Yamamoto is 14-5 with a 1.26 ERA in the Nippon Professional Baseball league this season. He boasts a 1.84 ERA across his seven-year career.

BULLPEN ADDITIONS

The Yankees added arms to their bullpen Sunday, calling up right-hander Matt Bowman and left-hander Anthony Misiewicz from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Bowman, 32, last appeared in an MLB game in 2019 with the Reds. Misiewicz, 28, allowed eight runs in 8.1 innings with the Diamondbacks and Tigers this season before the Yankees claimed him off waivers from Detroit in July.

They replace Matt Krook and Ron Marinaccio, who were sent down after ineffective outings in Saturday’s loss to the Brewers.

Boone hopes Bowman and Misiewicz can boost a bullpen that’s missing relievers Ian Hamilton (right groin strain) and Keynan Middleton (right shoulder inflammation).

“They’ve been in that conversation lately when we’ve gone to call guys up,” the manager said. “Both have [had] solid years down there. Obviously, we’ve been hit with a couple key injuries with Ian and Keynan, who we hope to both get back still. … Hopefully they can come up and provide a little bit of a spark.”

Bowman went 4-0 with a 3.86 ERA with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season, while Misiewicz went 3-1 with a 3.91 ERA with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.