In his second spring training appearance of the 2024 Grapefruit League season, Luis Severino continued to stay hot. He threw three scoreless innings, giving up just three hits and striking out four. He threw 39 pitches (30 for strikes) and looked strong in his second outing as a Met.
Severino has now thrown five innings of scoreless baseball. He threw two innings on March 1 against the Cardinals in which he struck out one and up no hits.
Overall, he now has a WHIP of 0.60 over five spring innings pitched.
Luis Severino. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza praised Severino’s performance, saying, “He was really good. He was able to use all of his pitches.” He mentioned his cutter touching 94 to 95mph and his four-seam fastball up to 97mph. He also stated that he threw a good changeup that struck out Josh Bell in the game as well.
Severino discussed his outing as well, including the difference in his slider from last season to this spring. He talked about how he’s been playing around with different grips to get different shapes and up the pitch’s velocity, crediting those aspects to his uptick in speed and velocity early this spring.
He also discussed his relationship with (Carlos) Mendoza.
“I’ve known Carlos for a long time,” he said. “When he got the opportunity here and I signed with the Mets, I was really excited. Excited for him, excited for us to work together,” said Severino.
Severino credits his comfortability to Mendoza as a factor in how well he’s pitching right now as well. He stated that having Mendoza as a manager made the transition a little easier because of their experiences together.
Severino is off to a strong spring start, and with Kodai Senga out for a while, Severino is stepping up and making an early impression in spring training. His performances have led to excitement heading into the 2024 season, and Severino could be the start the Mets are looking for to solidify their starting rotation.
