Henry Owens received his opportunity Tuesday. Luis Severino will follow in his footsteps a day later.
Severino will make his major league debut Wednesday for the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Severino is considered one of the Yankees’ best pitching prospects in years, evident by New York’s unwillingness to trade the 21-year-old before last week’s Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline, even if it meant landing Cole Hamels, David Price or Johnny Cueto.
Severino enters Tuesday with a 9-2 record and a 2.45 ERA in 18 starts this season split between Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The right-hander ranked No. 17 on Baseball America’s Midseason Top 50 prospects list, which was published July 7.
The Red Sox will counter with knuckleballer Steven Wright, who is coming off a solid performance Thursday against the Chicago White Sox in which he allowed just two runs over seven innings while striking out eight. Boston won that game 8-2.
Mike Napoli and Alejandro De Aza — two players tossed around in August trade speculation — will remain in the Red Sox’s starting lineup. Jackie Bradley Jr. (center field) and Hanley Ramirez (left field) will join De Aza in the outfield.
The complete lineups for Wednesday’s Red Sox-Yankees matchup are below.
RED SOX (47-60)
Brock Holt, 2B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Hanley Ramirez, LF
Pablo Sandoval, 3B
Mike Napoli, 1B
Alejandro De Aza, RF
Blake Swihart, C
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Steven Wright, RHP (4-4, 4.53 ERA)
YANKEES (60-45)
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Brett Gardner, LF
Alex Rodriguez, DH
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Carlos Beltran, RF
Chase Headley, 3B
Didi Gregorius, SS
Stephen Drew, 2B
John Ryan Murphy, C
Luis Severino, RHP (0-0, — )
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
