After Saturday’s not-ideal Grapefruit League appearance versus the Miami Marlins (one inning, three hits, four earned runs), New York Mets right-hander Seth Lugo told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com that he still aspires to reach “personal goals, and they’re mainly starter-based”.
That’s natural for a 29-year-old who, up until last season, was pretty much a career-long starting pitcher (20 innings pitched in relief over the 2016 and 2017 seasons compared to 145.1 as a starter).
Before the 2018 season, along with fellow starter Robert Gsellman, Mets manager Mickey Callaway decreed that Lugo would be used primarily as a reliever, and it turned out about as well as anyone could have hoped for the Louisiana native.
Over 78.1 innings in relief (49 appearances), Lugo’s 2.30 earned-run average ranked ninth among qualified National League relief pitchers, his 2.97 fielding independent pitching rating ranked 17th, and his 1.2 wins above replacement (FanGraphs) was good for 15th.
Along with his .201/.264/.296 slash line against, .245 weighted on-base average against, 24.7 percent strikeout rate and 7.1 percent walk rate, Lugo appeared to be taking his new role and running with it.
But apparently, there’s still more Seth Lugo wants to accomplish as a major-league hurler.
“I’m not content where I’m at, but I’m happy where I’m at — if that makes sense. Especially [with] the team we have now. I just want to be a part of it,” Lugo said. “I want to do something badass. I’ve had six up, six down before in relief. What else can you do? I’ve had a save, struck out the side. But I’ve always wanted to throw no-hitters, pitch complete games.”
When Callaway made the call to move Lugo back into the bullpen last season after making four starts in the absence of Noah Syndergaard (4.74 ERA in 19 innings), Lugo likely didn’t agree but couldn’t really argue with his skipper’s presumable reasoning.
Over his three-year career, Lugo’s splits as a starter and a reliever paint a fairly clear picture of the situation. He’s got a .262/.315/.433 slash line against and 4.06 ERA through 168.1 innings pitched as a starter and batters have hit just .194/.265/.290 against him as a reliever with a 2.38 ERA over 98.1 innings.
His strikeout rate is higher as a reliever (8.69 per nine compared to 7.38 as a starter), he’s allowed nearly two-thirds fewer home runs per nine innings (1.23 as a starter, 0.55 as a reliever), and sports a 3.03 FIP as a reliever compared to a 4.16 mark as a starter.
Despite the determination to achieve a lifelong goal to succeed as a starter in Major League Baseball, Seth Lugo’s absolute dominance as a relief pitcher thus far may leave him typecast as a reliever until necessity dictates otherwise.
