Voit, Severino and Britton closing in on return to action
MINNEAPOLIS — Luke Voit could be back in the big leagues in little over a week. The Yankees slugger, who is rehabbing from a strained right oblique, is expected to begin a week of rehab games Sunday or Tuesday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
“If everything continues to progress this week, he could start a rehab assignment as early as Sunday,” Boone said. “We’ll probably build them up that whole week. So if he were to start Sunday, I think he’s either going to start his rehab either Sunday or Tuesday — obviously there are no games Monday in the minor leagues. So we start on Sunday, they need to have Monday off and go Tuesday, so probably play that week and then hopefully get them back probably by the start of that following week.”
The Yankees could use Voit’s bat.
Aside from feasting on Twins pitching this week, they have struggled to score runs. Voit, who led the majors with 22 homers in the 60-game coronavirus pandemic shortened season last year, has played just 12 games this season. He began the year on the IL after having knee surgery.
In 12 games, Voit had one home run and was hitting .182.
SEVERINO SOON
Luis Severino will make his second rehab start on Saturday with the Yankees’ Class-A affiliate Hudson Valley. The right-hander who had Tommy John surgery in March of 2020 is expected to be back in the big leagues in early July.
Still, Severino, who missed most of 2019 with a lat injury, and is now 16 months removed from surgery will have to continue to build up once he’s back.
“Meaning he might not be up to typical starters pitch count by the time he gets to us…..We’ll see where he’s at,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I think on Saturday, he’s scheduled for three innings and up to 40 pitches or so.
“And then we’ll build him slowly from there. So there’s a scenario where he could be to us in which he’s certainly not at 80, 90 or 100 pitches yet,” Boone continued. " And we’ll just consider that and consider where we are on the clock with him and, and how he’s doing.”
Severino signed a four-year $40-million extension in 2019 when the 27-year old was 42-26 with a 3.46 ERA over parts of five seasons in the big leagues. He struck out 589 over 530 innings pitched.
But now, Severino has pitched just 20.1 innings in the first two years of his new contract because of injuries. He pitched just 12 regular-season innings in 2019 after dealing with right rotator cuff issues and then suffering a grade 2 strained, or partially torn, lat muscle.
BRITTON ON TARGET
Zack Britton was making his fourth minor league rehab appearance Thursday night, looking to bounce back from a rough outing on Tuesday, when he allowed four runs on three hits against the Bison in Trenton.
More importantly, Thursday night was about gauging the target date for his return. Boone said that Britton is close to the end of his rehab.
“There’s definitely a chance he can be back on this road trip,” Boone said. “We’ll kind of evaluate where he is and see how he’s doing after tonight and make a decision there. If we want him to have one or two more. We’ll kind of have those conversations, but he’s getting towards the, probably towards the back end, or maybe even the end of his rehab assignment.”
