Pitching prospect Luis Severino promoted to Double-A Trenton

The Yankees have promoted 20-year-old pitching prospect Luis Severino to Double-A Trenton after a short stint with the Tampa Yankees in Class-A ball, says Baseball America's Josh Norris.

Finally got it confirmed: Luis Severino has been promoted to Double-A Trenton and will pitch Saturday. #Yankees
— Josh Norris (@jnorris427) July 15, 2014

Severino joined the High-A Tampa team on June 20 and went 1-1 with a 1.79 ERA in just four starts before his move to Trenton. Most of his year was spent in Low-A Charleston where he went 3-2 with a 2.79 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 67 innings over 14 starts to begin the year.

Severino, who our Josh Sabo ranked his 10th best Yankees prospect before the season, certainly deserved this promotion to Double-A after pitching so well for Charleston and Tampa over the past few weeks. He pitched in the MLB Futures Game on Sunday, striking out one of the best hitters in that game, Texas Rangers slugger Joey Gallo, as part of a scoreless inning.

Having gained the attention of many scouts and baseball writers this season, Severino has cracked his way in the Top 50 prospect lists on sites such as Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.

You know, there is also the possibility that the Yankees are moving him up to Double-A now to showcase him ahead of the trading deadline. The Yankees don't have very many high-quality prospects, and Severino could be the difference-maker in trying to land a big player in a trade.

Here is what Sabo wrote about him back in February:

"I feel that he is one of the Yankees best pitching prospects, because of his ability to throw strikes. His control is much better than other high end Yankee pitching prospects, and it allowed him to dominate the lower minors. Severino is a three pitch power pitcher, that throws a hard fastball, a changeup and a slider."

* This news didn't come out until a little while after the Severino news, but Tampa Yankees outfielder Jake Cave was on that flight with Severino up to Trenton, as he, too, has been called up to Double-A. Cave was hitting .304 with three homeruns and 28 RBIs in 90 games for High-A Tampa.

* Jacob Lindgren was promoted to High-A Tampa yesterday, with a handful of Tampa players getting the call up to Trenton. Lindgren only pitched in four games for Low-A Charleston, giving up just a run on five innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Low-A clearly wasn't enough for him. His quick trip through the minors will now stop in Tampa. He probably won't be in Trenton before long.

* And lastly, Nick Rumbelow has been promoted to Double-A Trenton, too. Rumbelow was pitching pretty well in High-A Tampa -- he had a 2.39 ERA in 26.1 innings over 19 appearances, with 28 strikeouts and eight walks.

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