Girardi: Yankees' Severino has Maddux's poise
Yankees starting pitcher Luis Severino is a stud. As a 21-year-old rookie last season, he was 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA (137 ERA+), 1.20 WHIP and 56 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings. Based upon his minor-league track record, stuff and a few flashes of brilliance last season, the Yankees are dreaming on Severino as a future (present?) frontline starter and rightfully so.
But this Joe Girardi mention is rather lofty company (via ESPN New York):
“I was around Greg Maddux when I was a young player,” Girardi said. “There was a ton of poise, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. And I feel like Sevvy is the same way. He knows what he wants to do.”
To be clear, Girardi wasn’t saying Severino has everything Maddux had. We can’t exactly call it a comparison, and that’s why I never used that word. He’s just saying Severino has similar poise to Maddux, and that’s high praise because Maddux was a student of the game. Girardi is very familiar with Maddux’s poise, too, because he caught him 48 times (300 2/3 innings) in his career.
If Severino can use this poise in conjunction with his high-level talent, we’re going to be watching him do his thing for a long time — even if not for 23 years that include 355 wins, four Cy Youngs and a Hall of Fame induction.
Also good: Severino is not a skinny, dorky-looking white guy who isn’t overpowering. It’s so lame how Maddux is the de facto comparison to those guys.
Luis Severino got quite the compliment from his manager Saturday. (USATSI)
