Inside the bill of his Yankees cap this spring, Luis Severino wrote, “Be Patient.” For him, it's a reminder not to rush himself on the mound as he resumes his attempt to become the club’s first elite homegrown starter since Andy Pettitte.

Just 23, Severino is facing his next -- and possibly last -- chance to do what Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and every other young Yankees starter has failed to do since Pettitte became a top-of-the-rotation lefty with a 21-win season in 1996.

So, yeah, on the mound, Severino would be smart not to rush himself Friday night in Baltimore. But if he doesn’t want to be doomed to life in the Yankees bullpen -- which includes lighter future paychecks -- Severino needs to figure out how to be a successful starting pitcher. The Yankees won't wait forever.

They have a wave of young starters they think can be special. They also have a large amount of money coming off the books, notably CC Sabathia's $25 million and Alex Rodriguez's $20 million after this season, making it easy for the team to spend on pitching in the next few years. Severino will be given some leeway, but not much.

Entering 2016, the thought was that Severino might surpass Masahiro Tanaka as the team's ace by the end of the year. Instead, he bulked up too much and lost both his command and his spot in the rotation. Severino is now in that "Joba Rules" limbo: Should he be a starter or a reliever? At this point, the Yankees still think he's a starter.

“He did what we asked this winter,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.

Severino strengthened his muscles, worked on his secondary pitches, and seemed to seek advice from everyone this side of Dear Abby. There were winter training sessions with Pedro Martinez and spring training locker room chats with Tanaka. In his third season, Severino is hungry to learn.

“I know that he can throw 95,” Severino says of Tanaka. “I said, 'Why don’t you throw hard?' He said, 'If I throw hard the first inning, then I’m not going to have energy in the fifth inning.’ I’m trying to do that and save my gas for later, trying to command my pitches. When I’m not trying to throw hard, I can still throw 96-97.”

The ball comes out of Severino’s hand free and easy. The ability is there.

“Severino has a power arm, above-average breaking ball, above-average changeup,” says Tim Naehring, the Yankees’ vice president of baseball operations. “Can he put it together? Can he control the heartbeat?”

If he doesn’t show he's grown, then Jordan Montgomery, who is likely to be the fifth starter, could get an extended shot this season. Chad Green, Luis Cessa and Bryan Mitchell could be in the mix too. But while this group might feature some reliable starters, it is the next collection that has the Yankees truly excited.

The Yankees believe pitchers Chance Adams, Justus Sheffield and James Kaprielian could make it to the Bronx one day, perhaps relatively soon -- and maybe even this season. (Kaprielian was placed on the minor league disabled list with elbow pain Thursday and is headed for an MRI.)

“That wave of guys who are still walking their way down their development path have high ceilings,” Naehring says. “Some scouts will always say, ‘How can you put a No. 1 on him?’ You don’t know how he is going to be at the major league level as far as consistency. Is he going to have the intangibles to separate him from being a No. 2 starter to being a No. 1? Is he going to have the physical durability to put up 220 innings each year for a number of years?”

The Yankees have some legitimate excuses for not producing a top-flight starter for more than two decades. Their success has kept them from landing the best talent in the draft. The drive to win every year has meant earlier call-ups for young starters; instead of finishing their development in the minors, they find themselves throwing in The Show. Plus, there just aren’t that many elite starters to begin with.

Severino still has the ability to make it. The Yankees signed him for a modest $225,000 in 2012, but he has first-round talent. He pushed through the system quickly -- perhaps too quickly. If a player moves one or two levels per year, that's a nice progression. Severino moved up two spots his first full year, three his second, and was a big leaguer in his third. The Yankees promoted him because he earned his way up the chain.

In 2015, the Yankees thought Severino was better than the veterans they had in their starting rotation. They needed another arm for the stretch run, so they called on Severino. He impressed in the majors with a 2.89 ERA in 11 starts.

“There is a short term and a long term,” Cashman says. “But there is no guarantee you will get a long term if you sacrifice the short-term decision.”

The Yankees must decide whether they want to continue on this path. In the cases of Chamberlain and Severino, the Yankees pushed them because there was a need at the major league level. It worked, too, as Chamberlain helped pitch the Yankees to the playoffs in 2007 and Severino helped the Yankees secure a wild card in 2015.

“It is a balancing act,” Cashman said.

For Severino and the Yankees, the balancing act continues Friday.