MLB All-Star Game 2018: Yankees’ Luis Severino loses start to Red Sox’s Chris Sale

Yankees ace Luis Severino won’t start the 2018 MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 17, 2018 (7/17/18) at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. Instead, the job will go to Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale. Nationals ace Max Scherzer will start for the National League.

Watch video

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nobody knew.

The Yankees gave Luis Severino a starting rotation spot in spring training 2017 based off mostly a hunch. Sure, the right-hander’s stuff was top notch, but guys like that are like oxygen — they’re everywhere. Severino would have to show he could actually pitch, too, and to that point, it was a major question.

“It was stuff over pitchability,” Vice President of Baseball Operations Tim Naehring said Sunday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. “Now, it’s stuff plus pitchability.”

How Sheffield could earn call-up — soon

That difference is what led Severino to get his second All-Star nod and, as it was announced Monday afternoon, come in perhaps a close second as the starter for the American League squad.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch picked Red Sox ace Chris Sale to get the start Tuesday night at Nationals Park.

“He is truly a special pitcher in our league,” Hinch said of Sale. “He’s truly someone who deserves this honor.”

Severino has looked the part of an ace for more than a year. 

This season, he leads the league in wins with a 14-2 record. He’s also got a 2.31 ERA in 20 starts.

Last year, Severino didn’t even get to pitch in the All-Star Game in Miami. He finished the season as one of the driving forces in the Yankees’ run to Game 7 of the AL Championship Series, going 14-6 with a 2.98 ERA in 31 regular season starts.

To get there, though, the Yankees had to take a chance on Severino, who was terrible as a starter in 2016. But he was excellent in relief, leading many to speculate whether he belonged in the bullpen full-time.

The Yankees decided against it after watching him pitch in spring training 2017.

“He came into camp battling for a spot,” Naehring said. “To his credit, he won it, had a nice year and took off.”

For years, Naehring was one of the leaders of the Yankees’ big-league scouting department. When he took his current position in 2015 was when he first watched Severino live in the Bronx. Back then, he was impressive, but he was living off just his fastball velocity and slider — he hadn’t perfected the changeup and fastball that has helped him earn renown as one of the game’s best pitchers.

“First time I saw Sevy was in New York and obviously saw how dominant he was in the bullpen at times, also watched some of the struggles that he had at different times,” Naehring said.

“But it was never about the stuff. It was about command and finishing off all his pitches. There were times he got a little quick down the hill and that was a focal point of the development staff and they did a great job. Obviously, all the credit goes to Sevy, making some critical adjustments, but the power arm, the slider and obviously we always thought that the changeup had a chance to be an impact pitch as well. When you see those three types of pitch package, you look at how easy he does it, it’s easy to dream on what you think the up side can potentially be. It’s been fun to watch.:

Now, the Yankees see Severino as an essential building block toward winning a World Series.

“Obviously, when you look at the organizations that have had the sustained winning, a lot of them have had the ability to develop a No. 1 from within,” Naehring said.

“You look at the Giants, who won three World Series with three different No. 1 starters. All homegrown. (Justin) Verlander for a long time was a guy developed from within. You look at (Tim) Lincecum, (Matt) Cain, (and Madison) Bumgarner in San Francisco, three different years and you had three different No. 1 starters. The fact that this organization has been lucky enough to sign, develop (Severino), it’s turned out to be an elite, top-end starter, it’s a credit to the whole process.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.