Yankees Injury Updates: Luis Severino to Start Throwing Program on Monday

Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided an injury update on Luis Severino and Miguel Castro on Friday afternoon.

NEW YORK — Yankees starter Luis Severino is scheduled to resume his throwing program in the next few days, taking a step closer to returning to New York's rotation.

"He's doing well," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before a game against the Royals on Friday. "I think right now, if everything goes according to plan the next couple of days, he'll start throwing on Monday."

Severino has been on the 15-day injured list with a low grade right lat strain since July 14, just over two weeks ago. Once he resumes throwing, Severino will begin a slow progression back to the mound. 

Boone wasn't able to pinpoint any sort of estimated return date for the right-hander. With Severino's injury history, there's no sense in rushing the 28-year-old back. 

Luis Severino will start throwing again on Monday, per Aaron Boone. That’s the plan as of now, if everything continues to go well.

— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) July 29, 2022

"Been down a couple of weeks so I'm not sure exactly, but we just going to keep progressing through, making sure we're good at every step," he said.

Severino has posted a 3.45 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 86 innings and 16 starts this year, his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. 

Factoring in Severino's current situation, along with Nestor Cortes' workload and Jameson Taillon's recent skid, it's no surprise the Yankees are monitoring the market for starting pitchers leading up to next week's trade deadline. Even when Severino is ready to return, New York will likely proceed with caution, trying to conserve his best innings for the postseason.

While Severino is almost ready to restart his throwing program, reliever Miguel Castro is still a ways away from that point in his recovery from a right shoulder strain.

"He's a longer no-throw scenario than Sevy," Boone added. "So he'll continue to get evaluated each week where he's at. He's probably still at least a couple of weeks from throwing."

Asked if he expects Castro to return before the end of this season, Boone said that it's possible.

"We'll just see," he said. "He's a couple of weeks from throwing so he'll be a little while longer."

Castro has posted a 4.00 ERA this season, his first year with the Yankees after he was acquired from the Mets this spring (in exchange for lefty Joely Rodríguez). If you take away Castro's last outing before he landed on the IL—two earned runs without recording an out in Boston on July 10—the reliever had pitched to a 3.43 ERA with 26 strikeouts in his previous 21 innings.

The loss of Castro still hurts when you consider the other adversity New York has been facing in their bullpen. Michael King is out for the rest of the year after sustaining a fracture in his right elbow and relievers like Jonathan Loáisiga and Aroldis Chapman are still trying to return to form, struggling since their respective returns from the injured list.

In the meantime, other relievers like Ron Marinaccio, Lucas Luetge and Albert Abreu have stepped up, helping bridge the gap to closer Clay Holmes out of the 'pen.

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