When it comes to the All-Star Game and its associated festivities, the Futures Game takes a back seat to the Home Run Derby and the Midsummer Classic.
The obscurity of the Futures Game isn’t without good reason, as fans are focused on the sport’s current stars and aren’t paying as much attention to the next wave of talent. It also takes place two days before the All-Star Game, a time during which major league teams are wrapping up the first half of their schedules.
This year, however, New York baseball fans have reason to tune in, as two Mets (catcher Kevin Plawecki and pitcher Noah Syndergaard) and two Yankees (utilityman Peter O’Brien and pitcher Luis Severino) will be appearing in the game.
Of those four, Severino is probably the most unknown commodity, but the 20-year-old from the Dominican Republic has shown tremendous promise.
“He could be Pedro Martinez, with his skill set,” an American League scout said. “Live arm, he’s around the plate, he has feel for a change-up that’s real good, and a slider.”
Signed in 2012 for $225,000, Severino sparkled in the Dominican Summer League that year, posting a 4-2 record with a 1.68 ERA in 14 starts.
After going 4-2 with a 2.45 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 44 innings between the Gulf Coast League and Single A Charleston last season, Severino made 14 starts for Charleston this season and went 3-2 with a 2.79 ERA, a vast improvement from his 4.08 ERA for the RiverDogs in 2013.
“His repertoire is fastball, slider, change-up,” Charleston pitching coach Carlos Chantres said. “He was able to work fast [and] pitch down in the zone. He commanded his fastball to both sides of the plate and threw it in the zone whenever he wanted to.”
“His slider used to be his best pitch, and at some point, it will come back to being his pitch,” the scout said. “He’s working on his change-up, and [if] you put so much effort into one pitch, you forget the other pitches. But he’s only 20.”
Severino was recently promoted to High-A Tampa in the Florida State League, but the upgrade in competition hasn’t slowed his rise. In 16 ²/₃ innings (three starts) thus far, he’s 1-1 with a 1.62
ERA with 20 strikeouts against just four walks and seven hits allowed.
His second start for Tampa came in Clearwater, where he twirled six no-hit innings and struck out six, allowing just one walk.
Severino followed up that strong performance with six more shutout innings against Lakeland, allowing just two hits and two walks in six innings with six strikeouts — a performance must have felt good to Severino. Two weeks earlier, he lasted only 4 ²/₃ innings against Lakeland, allowing three runs and five hits.
“If you were there [in Clearwater] on that day that he pitched — 100 degrees [and] humid — no other kid pitched close to it,” the scout said. “He was dominant for innings.”