Luis Severino was dominant in the first half of the 2018 season. 11-2 with a 2.74 ERA is exactly what an ace should look like. Then things took a turn for the worse during the second half of the season. 9-6 with a 3.99 ERA resembles the performance of a fourth or fifth starter. To fix those late-season struggles, Severino is changing up his diet.
Severino admitted to those late season struggles and figured it was time to change his eating habits:
“When you are at the finish line and you feel like you need a little bit more than five days to be ready, you know that something’s going on,” Severino said as Yankees pitchers and catchers reported to spring training Wednesday.
Severino showed up to spring training reportedly 15 pounds lighter this year. Severino comes from the Domincan Republic and claims that changing his diet wasn’t easy. I can attest to that as a wrestler. Nothing is worse in life than that.
“Where I came from, we just eat anything we see in the fridge, fried and fast food,” Severino said. “But we’re eating more vegetables and stuff like that, and get your body going faster and then recover fast. So that’s my main stuff, focusing on my workouts and avoiding doing a lot of weights that maybe make me a lot more tired.”
“I hate eating vegetables,” Severino said, smiling.
If Severino can put together a dominant season from start to finish, they can thank his new diet. Sevy figures to be the Yankees opening day starter and the ace of the rotation. The pressure is on and New York. If the Yankees fail to win the title in 2019, it will be the first decade they fail to win one. Severino hopes to change that narrative. Thank god spring training is here.
