Luis Severino’s epic gender reveal shows off a skill that could help the New York Yankees when interleague play starts.
Luis Severino may have revealed more than just the gender of his future child in an Instagram post on Saturday night. He may have revealed a skill set that will really come in handy when the New York Yankees play in National League parks this season.
Severino and his wife have announced that they’re having a baby girl. First and foremost, congratulations to them and their family.
But as baseball psychopaths couldn’t help but notice, Severino’s hack at the gender reveal pitch was rather impressive. Now it wasn’t mechanically perfect of course. His weight shifted way too far forward and he left what we can only assume was an all-time bat flip out of the video.
However, it’s pretty hard not to notice Severino putting into practice that which hitting coaches preach these days. Launch angle, barrel rate, and exit velocity.
If you look carefully, you can see part of the exploded ball flying out of the pink smoke at a high rate of speed. Even in slow motion, that fragment is moving. Using the eye test blinded by strong bias, it’s safe to assume that Severino launched the ball at roughly 118.3 mph. That would put him in the save exit velocity tier as Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez.
Of course, any professional athlete should be able to hit a ball hard. The truly impressive aspect of the video is the launch angle. Again, using the eye test blinded by strong bias, we can deduce that the launch angle was somewhere between 20 and 30 degrees.
That kind of launch angle combined with elite exit velocity would send a baseball out of any National League ballpark. Manager Aaron Boone may even find it wise to get Severino some pinch-hit at-bats. His hitting ability will certainly come in handy should his start days line up with road games in the World Series.
In all seriousness, congratulations to the Severino family. And Yankees fans should look forward to dad-strength-enhanced fastball velocity.