TAMPA — The success of the Yankees rotation this season might depend on Pedro Martinez.
The Hall of Famer worked out this offseason with Luis Severino, the young right-hander the Yankees are counting on to bounce back from a miserable season to become an important part of the rotation again.
The sessions, about five of them, happened in the Dominican Republic after Severino reached out to a mutual friend to help set up a meeting.
“I called him,’’ Severino said. “I was a little nervous.”
The two met at a stadium in the Dominican and worked on Severino’s mechanics, especially with his changeup — a pitch that abandoned him last season.
“It was the same stuff Larry [Rothschild] told me,” Severino said, referencing the Yankees’ pitching coach.
Severino also lost 10 pounds since last season, and he is confident the newfound flexibility will help him put last year behind him.
The time with Martinez could play a role, as well.
Severino has drawn comparisons to Martinez since he was in the minors: Both are hard-throwing right-handers not blessed with great size (Martinez was listed at 5-foot-11, 170 pounds; Severino at 6-2, 215). When Severino came up in 2015, he looked the part when he fanned nine in his third major league start.
Instead of building on that success, Severino saw his changeup disappear in 2016. Severino was demoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre twice last season, both times after outings in which he gave up seven runs. By the second time — on Aug. 14 — he was 1-8 with a 7.19 ERA.
After his September recall, he gave up one run over 15 innings as a reliever before faltering in his final two outings.
Despite that, GM Brian Cashman has made it clear the Yankees want Severino to exhaust every opportunity to remain a starter, feeling he has significantly more value there than as a reliever.
“[Severino] is a guy we believe in,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Tuesday at Steinbrenner Field. “We still envision him as a starter, but he did some really good things when he came out of the pen.”
The Yankees want Severino to reclaim a spot in the rotation, with two slots open behind Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda. Severino is competing with Luis Cessa, Chad Green and perhaps Bryan Mitchell and Adam Warren.
“Right now, I want to be a starter,” said Severino, who excelled in the bullpen late in the year. “All my life I’ve been a starter. I like it.”
Severino turns 23 this month. At a similar age, Martinez had just become a full-time starter with the Expos following his trade from the Dodgers.
At this point, though, Severino isn’t looking to win three Cy Young Awards. He’ll take being a dependable starter again. If Martinez’s magic touch works and Severino rediscovers his changeup, the Yankees’ pitching issues won’t seem as dire.
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