Luis Severino is no longer teammates with Luis Gil, but he remains a mentor for the young Yankees starter.
That much was clear after Tuesday night’s Subway Series opener in the Bronx when Gil was asked about why he reached out to his former teammate, now of the crosstown Mets, to help him with his slider.
“Severino is someone that I’ve always looked up to ever since he was here, came up through this organization,” Gil said through an interpreter.
“He’s a pitcher with more experience than me. He has some knowledge to offer, and I took it into consideration and put it in practice here with our pitching coach. I’m getting really good results with that pitch.”
Severino, 30, pitched for the Yankees from 2015-23, earning back-to-back All-Star selections in 2017 and 2018 before dealing with a rash of injuries.
The Yankees acquired Gil as a minor-leaguer in a 2018 trade that sent outfielder Jake Cave to the Twins. Severino — who, like Gil, hails from the Dominican Republic — took the right-hander under his wing.
“People from D.R., if you know somebody’s from D.R. on my team and I’m the veteran, I’m going to look out for my guy,” Severino told the Daily News on Wednesday. “If they need anything, I’m there for them.”
Gil, 26, made his MLB debut with the Yankees in 2021 and underwent Tommy John surgery the following season. This year, he made the Yankees’ rotation out of spring training as the fill-in for ace Gerrit Cole, who missed the first three months of the season with elbow inflammation.
The hard-throwing Gil, who is still classified as a rookie, got off to a torrid start to 2024, pitching to a 9-1 record with a 2.03 ERA through his first 14 games.
But a rough patch followed. Gil posted a 14.90 ERA over his next three starts, which included a June 26 outing against the Mets in which he allowed five runs over 4.1 innings at Citi Field.
It was amid those struggles that Gil reached out to Severino about his slider, the latter revealed to MLB.com this week.
Gil’s slider has since transformed into a weapon for him. He threw 40 sliders — more than any other pitch — in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Mets, recording four strikeouts and five swings-and-misses with it.
“I just shared a couple tips that I have, a couple grips that have been working for me,” Severino told The News. “For me, it took me a month to get it good, and he just needed one bullpen [session].”
Severino has also stayed in touch with Clarke Schmidt, telling The News last month that he advised the Yankees right-hander after he was diagnosed with a lat strain. Severino dealt with lat strains in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Despite signing a one-year contract with the rival Mets in the offseason, Severino said he remains friends with Gil.
“The last thing we talked [about], it was just to take care of his body,” Severino said. “It’s a long season, and just speak if you feel something. It’s better to miss a start than the remainder of the season.”
