Luis Severino turns a fake, empty game into something special

Luis SeverinoTAMPA — This is where the seeds are planted, just past 9 o’clock in the morning on the first day in weeks when the temperature wasn’t already careening toward 80 degrees. Cool but comfortable. Sunny and bright. Quiet except for the occasional car horn randomly blaring off Dale Mabry Highway.

Here, you don’t only see Luis Severino pitch a simulated game.

You hear it, too.

You hear Larry Rothschild calling balls and strikes — using his pitching coach voice, too, not needing his umpire’s voice. You can hear the quartet of hitters who serve as the sim-game foils kicking the dirt out of their spikes, grunting as they swing, occasionally offering a familiar, terse commentary: “Nasty.”

And…