May 2014.
Dillon Gee was headed to the disabled list and the Mets were forced into a corner. Without other options available, it was a lanky right-handed flamethrower with bouncy, brown locks that received the call. Jacob deGrom made his debut against the New York Yankees, not exactly the ideal team to debut against given the cross-town rivalry.
But the lanky right-hander with the brown locks did more than meet the status-quo. He actually struck out six over seven innings, allowing only four hits and one run. It’s rare to see a top prospect command all their pitches with confidence and authority in their first start, let alone an unranked 25-year old.
Enter Seth Lugo. Similarly, Lugo’s opportunity stemmed from a series of injuries, first to Matt Harvey and more recently to Jonathan Niese. The 26-year old has been in the Mets system since being drafted in the 34th round of the 2011 draft out of Centenary College (yes the same school as Celtics great Robert Parish. Enjoy that complimentary name-drop).
Lugo’s career almost ended before it began. He missed his first professional season after undergoing lumbar spinal fusion surgery that had him bed-ridden for three months. Lugo crept up the farm and has found himself with he Mets Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas for the past season and a half. He hadn’t exactly wowed the scouts down there either. He had a 6.50 ERA prior to his callup with 62 strikeouts in 73.1 innings pitched. He started as a starter and struggled in the rotation before he was moved to the pen in AAA. Needless to say, I don’t think I was the only one who yawned when they announced him as the replacement for Niese in the rotation.
Similarly to deGrom, he was originally called up to pitch out of the bullpen. In fact, Lugo did pitch out of the pen during his first call-up back in July and threw 3.2 innings of relief during the most recent call-up. However, Niese pulled a Derrick Rose and it forced Terry Collins‘ hand. Lugo took the loss on the road against the Giants, throwing 6.2 innings of efficient ball with three strikeouts while giving up three earned runs. That’ll do.
Last night was Lugo’s second start in the majors and he was solid. Lugo hasn’t wowed like deGrom did when he first came up. However, his mid 90s fastball is nothing to yawn at. We can also thank Statcast for divulging the spin rate on Lugo’s curveball. The pitch spins an average of 3,353 RPM, 36% above the league mean as identified by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. That rate is the highest in baseball. Of course, there is more to it then just digging into the seams and spinning the leather like hell. But having command over such a deceiving pitch could pay dividends for Lugo’s career moving forward.
Nevertheless, Lugo pitched five shutout innings for the Mets, striking out five and walking three while allowing only two hits. He earned his first big league win. His calf cramped up due to dehydration so he couldn’t go longer, but he’s okay and will be good to go when the Mets call on him again.
Sure I’m being optimistic. If it was my money at stake, I wouldn’t bet on Lugo having a similar career trajectory to Jacob deGrom. However, there are some things to like from the 6’4” right-hander. Lugo isn’t going anywhere anytime soon so sit back, relax and say a prayer that he becomes half of the 2014 Rookie of the Year.
