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Luis Severino doesn’t feel he’s an ace–yet

In 2017, Luis Severino opened everyone’s eyes when he threw 193.1 innings with a 2.98 ERA, ranking ninth in innings pitched and third in ERA in the American League. Despite that, Severino wasn’t impressed with his 2017 campaign. He fell short of the only goal he had set for himself which was to pitch 200 innings, something he hopes to accomplish in 2018.

Even though Severino was one of the best pitchers in the Yankees starting rotation, he doesn’t view himself as the ace of the Yankees staff.

“I think everybody wants that, but if you’re asking me, I’m not going to say I’m the ace,” Severino said Randy Miller of NJ.com yesterday afternoon. “I have to keep improving. I have years to go before I feel I can say that. Maybe in two more years I can say I am the ace.”

Severino’s ace like performance during the season earned him the honor of starting the American League Wild Card game. Unfortunately, Severino had what was probably the worst start of his career, giving up three runs in one-third of an inning. While he improved slightly to a 1-1 record and a 4.02 ERA against the Cleveland Indians and the Houston Astros, Severino felt his postseason performance wasn’t good enough.

“Hopefully I’ll be better next year in the playoffs,” he said. “I got beat up by the Twins, then I came back and had a good game against Cleveland in the Division Series. I can be even better. I can be better in the season, better in the playoffs. I know that I’ll be better.”

Unlike last season when Joe Girardi announced Masahairo Tanaka as the Opening Day starter, Yankees manager Aaron Boone would rather prefer to make it into a competition this year. It’s safe to say that Luis Severino has a good chance of being in the mix, but if he wants to win the coveted honor he’ll have to work on his secondary pitches.

“I know I’m still working on stuff,” he said. “I know that I need to work more. My secondary pitches need to be more consistent. I’m trying to be better than I was last year. I need to control myself a little bit better. I need to throw more changeups for strikes. I need to be more careful with my stuff.”