What to expect from Luis Severino in 2024

The New York Mets agreed to terms with former Yankees starting pitcher Luis Severino on a one-year $13 million contract. The deal was finalized late on Wednesday night and it kicked off the 2024 offseason moves for the Mets.

This is a low-risk, high-reward scenario with Severino considering fans know the type of potential he has when given the ball every fifth day.

What does Severino look like at his best?

Severino was viewed as an ace for the Yankees in 2017 and 2018. He made back-to-back all-star appearances in these years and was a top pitcher in baseball.

In 2017, he had an ERA of 2.98 with 230 strikeouts in 31 appearances and a record of 14-6 on the season. Then in 2018, Severino had an ERA of 3.39 with 220 strikeouts in 32 appearances and a record of 19-8 on the season.

He was on a tear up until he suffered a ton of injuries that had him sidelined for a good amount of time in his past couple of seasons.

Major injuries throughout Severino's career

The injuries began to pile up for Severino when he had to undergo Tommy John surgery in 2020 which kept him out until late into the 2021 season. In 2022, he showed signs of himself in 19 appearances with a 3.18 ERA going 7-3 and posting 112 strikeouts.

If it was not for the Lat strain that he suffered that year, Severino would have pitched a full body of work in 2022. Lastly, 2023 was a horrendous year for him and he never really got back into his rhythm.

Sevy posted a 6.65 ERA in 19 appearances with a record of 4-8 and just 79 strikeouts. His season went poorly and to add insult to injury his season was ended with a high oblique strain.

Now what?

Despite all these injuries, Severino only had one bad year which is definitely something that Mets fans have to consider. In 2024, he is getting a much lighter role on the Mets and is going to be a part of the back half of their rotation.

In order to reach the ceiling of being about a 3.50 ERA pitcher with 180 innings, he is going to have to fix certain mechanics when it comes to his pitching. His velocity was there but he lost an inch off of his rise which made a big difference, allowing opposing teams to hit the ball hard off of him.

Sevy's fastball was flat and he needs to go back to what he was doing before in getting the hitter to not just whiff but pop up as well. He also is going to be molded by the Mets into using more off speed pitches so expect him to change from a primarily fastball pitcher to one that tends to go to variety using not just his slider but improving his changeup as well.

Mets fans should put a little faith in Severino and hope that the right version of him appears in the 2024 campaign. Overall it is a good start to the offseason moves and there is a lot more to come from the Mets in the next couple of weeks.