With about two weeks to go until the regular season, the New York Mets rotation has been one of the success stories of spring training. Yes, it is only spring, but the starting pitchers in camp lead all of baseball with a 2.18 ERA and are tied with the Cleveland Guardians for the fewest runs allowed (11). 

After José Quintana had another strong outing against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday with four scoreless innings, it was up to Joey Lucchesi to make his first good impression in spring training. However, he was unable to get the job done. 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Nationals loaded the bases immediately on a single by Eddie Rosario, a walk by Trey Lipscomb, and Riley Adams was hit by a pitch. Although the damage was kept to only one run thanks to a double play by Victor Robles, the trouble continued in the sixth. 

That inning started with a Lane Thomas single and a

Photo by Roberto Carlo

wild pitch. Two batters later, Joey Gallo and Nick Senzel each recorded singles (Senzel RBI) to give the Nats a 2-1 lead and chase Lucchesi. The left-hander went 1.1 innings, allowed four runs on four hits, walked a batter, and hit a batter. 

 

At the conclusion of the game, Lucchesi discussed whether tempo contributed to his rough performance. 

“I felt physically well. I was just speeding up. I’m not trying to make excuses, but I let it [the clock] get to me. I sped up my internal clock and I was just off timing, a little wild. Hit a guy. I usually don’t hit guys….My pitches were working, I was just rushing my mechanics.” 

In Lucchesi’s five years in the big leagues, he has hit 11 batters over the course of 79 games (75 starts) and has not hit more than two in a given season since his rookie year in 2018 with the San Diego Padres. After pitching on the back fields to begin spring, it is understandable if the adjustment to the pitch clock can be tricky in a first outing. 

While Lucchesi’s velocity on his fastball was more in the late 80s instead of the low90s, manager Carlos Mendoza didn’t seem too concerned as the lefty got between 40 and 45 pitches in.

“This is a guy where deception obviously is one of his weapons. He’s going to be 90-91. Today, he was 88-89. It was pretty normal for his first outing, but overall not concerned.”

With Lucchesi not relying too much on the fastball, it is more important that he finds a good feel for all of his pitches to create that deception for opposing hitters. After a strong end to 2023, he can be a key depth piece to a rotation that will need plenty of quality arms throughout the year. 

Therefore, Lucchesi needs to be patient as he tries to slow the game down and get it moving at the pace he wants.