{"id":45508,"date":"2021-04-02T01:26:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T05:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=45508"},"modified":"2021-04-02T01:56:09","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T05:56:09","slug":"the-new-york-yankee-youve-never-heard-of-lucas-luetge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2021\/04\/02\/the-new-york-yankee-youve-never-heard-of-lucas-luetge\/","title":{"rendered":"The New York Yankee You&#8217;ve Never Heard Of"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig. Mickey Mantle. Lucas Luetge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2021\/03\/29\/2021-new-york-yankees-preview\/\" target=\"_self\">New York Yankees<\/a> have adorned their roster with stars for the past 100 years or so, and this season is no different. However, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one relatively anonymous lefty reliever squeaked onto the Opening Day roster<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Luetge, a 34-year-old non-roster invitee, will make his first major league appearance since 2015 after a dominant Spring Training.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Yankees have made the following roster moves today:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022Signed LHP Lucas Luetge to a Major League contract and selected him to the 40-man roster<br \/>\u2022Placed INF\/OF Miguel And\u00fajar on the 10-day IL (retroactive to 3\/29) w\/ right wrist carpal tunnel syndrome<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; New York Yankees (@Yankees) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Yankees\/status\/1377378479038111744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 31, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meet Lucas Luetge<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luetge\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=luetge001luc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">minor league history<\/a> is as long and messy as an NJ Transit train schedule. He was selected by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/category\/brewers\/\" target=\"_self\">Milwaukee Brewers<\/a> in the 21st round of the 2008 draft, then joined the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/category\/mariners\/\" target=\"_self\">Seattle Mariners<\/a> as a Rule 5 pick in 2011. He spent the next four years pinballing between the majors and triple-A, mixing a curveball and slider with a milquetoast 90 mph fastball. From 2016-2020, he bounced through five organizations&#8211; with a Tommy John surgery mixed in&#8211; never coming near the surface until he landed an opportunity with the Yankees this spring.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be blunt, his numbers haven\u2019t been impressive anywhere in his 13-year professional career. It\u2019s a testament to perseverance as well as MLB\u2019s perpetual need for lefty arms. His major league strikeout rate is merely 19.0%, which was 3.4 points below the MLB average for lefty relievers from 2012-2015. Those were his numbers ages 25-28, when he was in his theoretical prime.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pitchers aren\u2019t supposed to magically improve in their mid-30s. Without a deeper dive, this would appear to be a desperate move for the Yankees, who lost southpaws Zack Britton and Justin Wilson to the injured list. Nevertheless, the Spring Training numbers indicate Luetge picked up some new tricks either at the 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/category\/athletics\/\" target=\"_self\">Oakland A\u2019s<\/a> alternate site or during the intervening offseason, and he\u2019s ready for his second act.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Turning Heads<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luetge\u2019s last MLB stint may be far in the rearview, but he only struck out 74 of 389 batters faced. In Spring Training this year, he whiffed an incredible 18 of 37, including two walks and eight hits, albeit with two home runs. His 15.7 K\/9 was more than double his 7.5 mark all those years ago in Seattle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are the 2021 MLB Spring Training strikeout leaders among relief pitchers:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Karinchak, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/category\/indians\/\" target=\"_self\">Cleveland Indians<\/a>, 21 strikeouts in 10 \u2153 innings<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Bednar, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/category\/pirates\/\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a>, 18 strikeouts in 8 \u2154 innings<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lucas Luetge, New York Yankees, 18 strikeouts in 10 \u2153 innings<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Karinchak is one of the most prolific strikeout artists in MLB, so it\u2019s no surprise to see him atop this leaderboard. Bednar is totally out of nowhere, so he\u2019s an interesting name to watch this season. Luetge has no business anywhere near this leaderboard based on the back of his baseball card.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Statcast captured 148 of his pitches this spring, and his pitch mix doesn\u2019t appear to have changed much. He topped out at 92 mph, mostly working in the 88-90 range. He threw 45 percent fastballs and 41 percent sliders, interweaving those two pitches until he achieves a two-strike count. Then comes a big, sweeping curveball to finish batters off. He only threw 20 hooks all spring but generated seven swinging strikes and five foul balls. No one put the pitch in play whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His velocity may be underwhelming, but that rarely tells the whole story for a pitcher. Here are his average spin rates on each of his pitches this spring:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fastball- 2,689 rpm<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slider- 2,826 rpm<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curveball- 2,827 rpm<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those numbers aren\u2019t quite off the charts, but they definitely stretch the limits of the graph paper. His curveball spin rate would have been 86th percentile in MLB last year. The slider would have been the sixth-best in MLB (minimum 50 pitches). The fastball is a little harder to quantify. Statcast classifies it as a four-seamer. If that\u2019s the case, his spin rate would have been sixth-best in MLB. A few weeks ago, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/03\/09\/yankees-lucas-luetge-hopes-to-end-his-minor-league-odyssey\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York Post<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">described it as a cutter<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in which case it\u2019s &#8220;only&#8221; 85th percentile-caliber spin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is all that really good enough to get batters out? Let\u2019s ask the Philadelphia Phillies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/Yankeelibrarian\/status\/1370403058862190592<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How about you, Randal Grichuk? That curve working okay?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/BarnHasSpoken\/status\/1374800130965176322<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luetge last pitched in the majors so long ago that there isn&#8217;t any Statcast data to compare his 2021 Spring Training numbers to the kind of pitcher he used to be. These spin rates are much more supportive of his stellar spring than the quadruple-A reliever he\u2019s been for the past 13 years. The Yankees aren\u2019t likely to retire his number number 63 like those of Ruth, Gehrig, and Mantle, but it does appear they\u2019ve found a quality reliever for 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Players mentioned: <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/ruthba01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Babe Ruth<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gehrilo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lou Gehrig<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mantlmi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mickey Mantle<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/luetglu01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lucas Luetge<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brittza01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zack Britton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=wilsoju10,wilson008jus,wilson006jus,wilson004jus&amp;search=Justin+Wilson&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Justin Wilson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/karinja01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Karinchak<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bednada01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Bednar<\/a><\/strong>, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/grichra01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Randal Grichuk<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: <a id=\"YNF6PY0UTn9bL6T0SBwHRA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/144487993\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'YNF6PY0UTn9bL6T0SBwHRA',sig:'ad6ylXlZFMaDnrl2y6OEFcXpQ1HIg5KZU6eoYaU5PV0=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'144487993',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig. Mickey Mantle. Lucas Luetge. The New York Yankees have adorned their roster with stars for the past 100 years or so, and this season is no different. However, one relatively anonymous lefty reliever squeaked onto the Opening Day roster. Luetge, a 34-year-old non-roster invitee, will make his first major league appearance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3827,"featured_media":45556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1071],"tags":[4752,4662],"class_list":["post-45508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yankees","category-mlb","tag-lucas-luetge","tag-yankees-featured"],"modified_by":"DJ Kleinbard","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3827"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}