Yankees Notebook: Jhony Brito enters the rotation mix
With Luis Severino injured, the Yankees may need to tap even further into their starting pitching depth early this season.
With Carlos Rodon and Frankie Montas already out to start the year, Severino is dealing with a low-grade lat strain on his right side. The injury will keep Severino from making what would have been his first start of the season and will “probably” land him on the injured list, according to Aaron Boone.
The manager added that, should the Yankees require a fifth starter during Severino’s absence, Jhony Brito could join the rotation. Domingo German and Clarke Schmidt, who is now scheduled to start the second game of the season, are already filling in for Rodon and Montas.
Brito, the Yanks’ 27th-best prospect, will start against the Blue Jays on Sunday in what was supposed to be Severino’s final spring training outing. A 25-year-old righty from the Dominican Republic, Brito owns a 3.52 ERA, seven strikeouts and zero walks over 7.2 innings this spring.
“Pounds the strike zone. He’s been throwing the ball well,” backstop Jose Trevino told the Daily News when asked for a scouting report. Trevino hasn’t caught Brito yet, but he has watched some of his bullpens this spring. “He does a pretty good job.”
Brito impressed at Double- and Triple-A last season, pitching to the tune of a 2.96 ERA over 112.2 innings.
This spring, he’s already made a solid impression on Boone, who described Brito as a strike-thrower with a good fastball-changeup combo.
“Even very early in camp, getting my first chance to really see him a lot in-person, I liked what I saw,” the skipper said.
ANOTHER YOUNG GUN IN THE MIX
Another young hurler, Randy Vasquez, wowed Boone on Saturday when the righty tossed four shutout innings against a loaded Phillies lineup. The 24-year-old prospect — the Yankees’ 14th-best — allowed three hits and two walks while striking out four in an 8-3 Yankees win.
Again, the team has had to tap into its rotation depth. That could be good news for Vasquez later this season after he tallied a 3.90 ERA at Double-A last year.
“[He] certainly fits in that mix,” Boone said. “I don’t know about out of the gate, but today was an exciting day to go see him do that with our big boys out there, with their big boys, late in spring training.”
THESE GUYS COULD HAVE HELPED
One reason the Yankees’ pitching depth is a bit stretched right now is because they dealt several prospects before last year’s trade deadline. Two of those hurlers cracked their new teams’ season-opening rotations on Saturday.
Ken Waldichuk, dealt in the Montas trade, is joining the Athletics’ staff, per MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos. Hayden Wesneski, dealt in the Scott Effross trade, received the same news with the Cubs, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian.
CHAPARRO CRUSHES ANOTHER ONE
Andres Chaparro is not a candidate to make the Yankees’ Opening Day roster, but the 23-year-old prospect can mash. The corner infielder did so again Saturday, belting his fifth home run of the spring. Chaparro also has a .314 average, a 1.143 OPS and 12 RBI since camp began.
“He can hit,” Boone said, adding that Chaparro can hold his own defensively. “He can impact the ball. He’s a hitter.”
