He wanted to feel that hunger again. The sort that young baseball players early in their major league careers have. The kind that push them to compete at the highest level daily.
Every at bat, every pitch, every outing.
Luis Severino believes he has found that with the Athletics.
And they are certainly happy for it.
The A’s meet the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday and Sunday for Big League Weekend at Las Vegas Ballpark. Both games begin at 1:05 p.m.
The right-hander Severino signed this offseason for three years and $67 million, a free-agent deal that’s the largest guarantee in franchise history.
That’s what the A’s shelled out for a pitcher to sit at the top of their rotation. And in Severino they have one who is coming off a rebound season with the New York Mets.
He threw 182 innings with a 3.91 ERA last season. Not bad for a guy who missed significant time in 2019 (lat strain) and all of 2020 and most of 2021 after Tommy John surgery.
But he’s sure last season was a turning point. He’s convinced that the pitcher who was a two-time All-Star with the New York Yankees can again deliver such results.
Just win games
“Nobody is expecting us to go out and make the playoffs,” Severino said last week from spring training in Mesa, Arizona. “So we just need to go out and be 100 percent and do whatever we can to win games. I remember when I was one of these young guys who wanted to be in the big leagues and be somebody.
“I’m not going to come in here and tease anybody. Whatever these guys need, I’m going to be there for them and be approachable. Anything they need.”
What they need mostly is for Severino to produce.
The A’s, desperate to add starting pitching, did so in the offseason. Bringing in Severino and Jeffrey Springs from the Tampa Bay Rays.
There is depth to the rotation now, with JP Sears and Osvaldo Bido and Joey Estes and more.
But you need an ace to lead the way, and Severino is being paid like one. It’s on him now.
The 31-year-old enjoys the atmosphere around the A’s, enjoys the idea of playing the underdog role after all those years in New York, enjoys what the team did late last season to give fans hope about the future.
“I know they won 69 games and played .500 baseball after the All-Star break,” he said. “I know this team got a lot better this offseason. If we keep a good mentality, at the end of the year we’ll be in a good spot.
“The more we’re around each other, the more we get to know each other, the better we’ll be. It’s all exciting to me.”
It’s also exciting for manager Mark Kotsay, who sees Severino as the sort of leader his team needs. He watches Severino integrate himself more and more every day, already a big part of what Kotsay sees as spring training growth throughout the clubhouse.
“I think as we get further and further into camp, you’ll see him spend a lot more time with guys,” Kotsay said. “Right now, it’s more about him getting ready to take the mound and getting to know the pitching coaches and getting to know me.
“Anyone who comes into the organization, we try to make them feel a part of things as fast as possible. We’ve done a great job with that. What guys like Severino and Springs bring to us is that depth that gives our younger starters time to mature. Our depth comes from development.”
Throw more cutters
Here’s the thing about Severino: He knows what playoff baseball feels like, looks like, smells like. He can impart such things to those new teammates who have never experienced it.
He can make his first spring start and afterward talk about how he wants to throw more cutters to left-handed hitters, that it was a big pitch for him last season but didn’t think it was used enough. That he just wants to let it do the work.
But his place is so much more than all that.
“I don’t know how things are going to go, but I do know I’m going to go out there and try to win every time they give me the ball,” Severino said. “A lot of people think we’re far away. That’s not true. Let’s just try to have a winning season. If we make it, we make it. But let’s just try to win games.
“Even before I signed, I talked to guys who played here before. They told me the atmosphere was unbelievable, that Kotsay was a great skipper to play for, so that gets me excited.”
As they are about him.
Contact Ed Graney at [email protected]. Follow @edgraney on X.
Up next
Who: Athletics vs. Diamondbacks
What: Big League Weekend
When: Saturday and Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
Where: Las Vegas Ballpark
TV/radio: Saturday: SSSEN, KWNR-FM (95.5); Sunday: Fox, KWNR-FM (95.5)
