Yankees find a diamond in Luis Severino’s brother
By Adry Torres
Over the past two weeks, a bevy of youngsters throughout Latin America as young 16 years old have taken their first steps toward carrying out their lifelong dreams of throwing a baseball and swinging a bat on the sport’s grandest stage.
A few of these kids will make it to the majors in the distant future, becoming key components on winning clubs, sharing the very same success stories of major leaguers they idolize. A couple of other prospects born out of the latest international class will eventually make folks wonder what happened to the kid who received a multi-million dollar bonus. It’s a question that tends to arise annually when the calendar strikes July 2, the start of Major League Baseball’s international signing period.
The New York Yankees officially unveiled the signings of 20 young kids hailing from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, and the Bahamas.
For beginners, baseball’s winningest franchise landed Kevin Alcantara, a 16-year-old rated No. 4 on FanGraphs’ international prospect list and No. 10 by MLB.com. They also signed 16-year-old Venezuelan Antonio Gomez, the No. 11 ranked catcher in this year’s international class by MLB.com.
But one name that stood out among these pinstripe hopefuls was Rafael Severino, the 19-year-old younger brother of Yankees ace, Luis Severino.
The American League Cy Young award favorite broke the life-changing news to his kid brother over a phone call a few hours before the Yankees took the field on July 4.
“I knew (of the pending offer) before him,” Luis Severino told La Vida Baseball. “I’m proud of him because of the work he has done. Signing is not easy. Now he has an opportunity. From here on out he knows that he has to put his work in to keep going forward.”
While Rafael Severino hoped to follow his brother’s footsteps, the process wasn’t a walk in the ballpark, the Yankees’ two-time All-Star right-hander recalled.
He was too slim and lacked sufficient velocity in comparison to his younger counterparts who were getting offers that would be key in moving their families out of poverty in the baseball-crazy Caribbean island.
Luis Severino took his sibling under his wing during the 2016 offseason and started to see some improvements from the tough workouts they had under the hot sun at the Centro Olimpico Juan Pablo Duarte, an athletic complex in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo.
“He worked a lot. That’s important,” Luis Severino said. “He has a lot of discipline and he loves to work, and those are two good ingredients for a baseball player.”
With the big brother in the States trying to establish himself, Rafael Severino joined the International Prospect League, an academy located in San Isidro, just east of Santo Domingo, and a reputable program known for developing some of the best Dominican talent.
While Rafael Severino’s baseball clock started to tick away, Amaury Nina, president of the IPL, saw something special in the young prospect even though he didn’t blow up the radar gun with a fastball in the high 90s.
“His miles per hour have increased since he landed on our hands. He topped at 81-mph, 82-mph with good mechanics,” Nina told La Vida Baseball in a phone interview. “Today he’s at 88-91, tops off at 91. It’s not consistent but with the work put forth by the Yankees, who have a good pitching development system, I think he will (improve) in short time.”
Teams don’t often sign a 19-year-old prospect in the Dominican Republic or any other country in Latin America. For some reason, Rafael Severino developed at a slower pace than others.
According to Nina, who spent some time in the minors with the Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds, the Yankees perhaps will reap the benefits of the younger Severino.
“If you ask me, I can tell you that not even the Yankees, who signed him, can tell you what they have,” he said. “They signed him because they understand that there’s an ability, like with another kid they sign.
“But I understand that when they in fact see the diamond that they have, they will be surprised because that kid’s mechanics are very similar to his brother’s. That kid has the same ability as his brother. I won’t tell you at that age, perhaps a year less.”
Featured Image: Paul Bereswill / Getty Images Sport