New York Mets starting pitcher Luis Severino learned a valuable lesson while with the New York Yankees. Severino revealed in a recent episode of The Show: A NY Post baseball podcast with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman, his pitch tipping issue that was giving opposing batters an edge in knowing what type of pitch Severino was prone to throwing in particular situations.

Since then, Severino has focused on his pitch tipping, creating new ways of deceiving his pitches as a member of the Mets.

“I was doing different things. What matters in seconds sometimes; if I stop and look at third, it was fastball. If I look at second going straight home, it was off-speed,” Severino said, per Heyman's X page, formerly Twitter. “That's one of those things I stopped doing. My hand position, in the glove, was a little more down, and one, my glove was more straight. And other one was second base. I started doing that. Two, I would just set a position for all my pitches, and I think that also helped me a lot this year.”

Fortunately for Severino, two members of the Yankees pitching staff caught onto his revealing habit last year.

“Yes, the Yankees, they have two great guys there. Guys that know a lot about tipping. They pulled me out a couple of things, but it's really hard to do those things when you're in the season. It's really hard. So, I was working on it. But, you know, when you go out there, and the competition like kicks in, and you [forget] about everything.”

Severino finished 2023 with a 4-8 record and a 6.65 ERA for the New York Yankees. This season, he's 9-6 for the Mets with a 3.84 ERA after earning his ninth victory of the season in an 8-3 win over the San Diego Padres Thursday night.

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Luis Severino makes changes in sleep pattern

New York Mets starting pitcher Luis Severino (40) pitches against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at Petco Park.
Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Luis Severino has a new vibe in 2024. He also changed his approach to habits off the field, including a new daily sleeping routine that's helped him rest better. He says it's made a tremendous difference.

“I changed a lot of things — my work habits. I was a guy who would go into the offseason just [lifting] weights, like, [getting] bigger and bigger. This offseason, I approached it a little bit differently,” Severino said, per MLB.com. “I want to be more athletic on the mound… Sleeping is helping me a lot. My habits were really bad. I was barely sleeping five hours a night. For a baseball player, that's not good.

“I went to Florida and trained with personal trainer Joe Murphy. He told me about a sleep doctor. He put me in contact with her. We have a session and then I sleep with a couple of things on my chest for three days. She told me what I could do to feel better, gave me a couple of tips like drinking… juice and not watching TV [after 10 p.m.]. That really helped me.”

The Mets continue their four-game series with the Padres on Friday.