Pedro Severino

Pedro Severino De León (born July 20, 1993) is a Dominican professional baseball catcher for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Severino began playing baseball in the Dominican Republic as a pitcher, outfielder, and third baseman. In 2009, at the age of 15, his team needed a catcher, so a coach asked Severino to fill in. The coach noticed Severino's potential at catcher when he threw out a baserunner attempting to steal second base, and asked him to keep catching. He considered quitting, but his father encouraged him to try catching.

In 2010, the Nationals signed Severino for a $55,000 signing bonus as a catcher. He debuted in 2011 for the Gulf Coast Nationals of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League (GCL), where he struggled to gain the trust of his pitchers due to his youth and inability to understand English. He began to learn English, and worked on his catching development. After repeating the GCL in 2012, Severino played for the Hagerstown Suns of the Class A South Atlantic League (SAL) in 2013, where he was the team's youngest player. He batted .241, but threw out 40% of basestealers, and was named a SAL all-star. In 2014, Severino played for the Potomac Nationals of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League, where the average player was three years older than him. After the season, the Nationals assigned Severino to the Arizona Fall League.

In 2015, Severino played for the Harrisburg Senators of the Class AA Eastern League. The Nationals promoted him to the major leagues on September 1, 2015. He made his major league debut on September 20, hitting a double against the outfield wall off Miami Marlins reliever Jose Urena in his first plate appearance and coming around to score.

Severino began the 2016 season as the primary catcher for the Syracuse Chiefs in the Class AAA International League. He was called up to the majors in April 2016 for a brief stint after Wilson Ramos was placed on the bereavement list and again in July after Jose Lobaton was sent to the disabled list with an injury. He hit his first major league home run while pinch-hitting at Coors Field on August 17 against Colorado Rockies reliever Matt Carasiti.