Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Luis Severino reacts after striking out Texas Rangers’ Jake Burger with the bases loaded to end the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Arlington, TX. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Athletics pitcher Luis Severino throws to a Seattle Mariners batter during the third inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
A’s pitcher Luis Severino prepares for his first matchup against his former teammate Aaron Judge
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) 鈥 Luis Severino spent years as Aaron Judge’s teammate on the New York Yankees, marveling at his prodigious power and skill as a hitter.
Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Luis Severino reacts after striking out Texas Rangers’ Jake Burger with the bases loaded to end the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Arlington, TX. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) 鈥 Luis Severino spent years as Aaron Judge’s teammate on the New York Yankees, marveling at his prodigious power and skill as a hitter.
Now Severino gets to face Judge for the first time this weekend when he is slated to start for the Athletics on Sunday in the series finale against the Yankees.
鈥淚’m excited,鈥 he said Friday before the series opener. 鈥淚’m just trying to figure out what to throw to Judge.鈥
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No pitcher has been able to figure that out this season, as Judge is off to a sizzling start after getting off to slow starts to the season in recent years.
Judge enters the weekend leading the majors in almost every major offensive categories. He is batting .400 with 12 homers, 34 RBIs, 34 runs scored, a .491 on-base percentage and a .750 slugging percentage.
鈥淯sually this is the bad part of the season, the first month,” Severino said. “It鈥檚 unbelievable what he can do. He鈥檚 such a good player. Even when he鈥檚 not doing good, he鈥檚 always the same person. That鈥檚 why he鈥檚 one of my favorite teammates. ... I feel like every year he just gets better. I don鈥檛 know how.鈥
Severino was with the Yankees from 2015-23, going 54-37 with a 3.79 ERA. He is slated to face the Yankees for the first time in his career after missing them last year when he was on the New York Mets.
Severino made headlines last year when he said the Yankees 鈥渙nly have two good hitters,鈥 referring to Judge and former Yankees outfielder Juan Soto. Severino wouldn’t say how many good hitters the Yankees have this year outside of Judge, saying he hasn’t watched much because of the three-hour time difference.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said there’s no ill will and that’s 鈥渏ust Sevy.鈥 Boone said he has only good memories of his time with Severino and is happy that his former player has been healthy since leaving the Yankees after making only 40 starts in his last five years with the team because of a series of injuries.
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鈥淚 love the person. I love the competitor,鈥 Boone said. 鈥淎 lot of greatness with us, but obviously a lot of injuries that he had to work his way through. But what I鈥檓 happy for him and proud of him for is his continued dedication. It鈥檚 not easy when you have a series of some significant injuries too that really cost him a lot of time and in the prime of his career. I feel like he鈥檚 come out of that and done a great job of just learning how to navigate that, learning how to work through that.鈥
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