Joey Lucchesi
Joseph George Lucchesi
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 6' 5", Weight 204 lb.
- School Southeast Missouri State University
- High School Newark Memorial High School
- Debut March 30, 2018
- Born June 6, 1993 in Newark, CA USA
Biographical Information[edit]
Pitcher Joey Lucchesi reached the majors in 2018.
Lucchesi was selected by the San Diego Padres in the fourth round of the 2016 amateur draft and made his pro debut that year with the Tri-City Dust Devils, going 0-2 with a 1.35 ERA in 14 games. He made the jump from AA to the majors in 2018. He made his big league debut on March 30th, starting against the Milwaukee Brewers and giving up 3 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. He earned his first major league win on April 10th with an impressive performance at Coors Field where he held the Colorado Rockies to 2 runs in 6 innings, striking out 8, in a 5-2 victory. He recorded another win on April 15th when he defeated the San Francisco Giants, 10-1, with 9 Ks in 6 innings. Overall, he went 8-9, 4.08 in 26 starts during his rookie season, logging 130 innings and striking out 145 batters. He was seen as the first of a great group of promising young pitchers coming up the Padres system, alongside others like Eric Lauer, Chris Paddack, Dinelson Lamet and Cal Quantrill.
In 2019, Lucchesi had another good year as the Padres showed signs of being competitive in the early going before fading down the stretch and again finishing well back in the NL West. He was 10-10, 4.18 in 30 starts, increasing his innings to 163 2/3 and his strikeouts to 158. He seemed well and truly poised to be part of a very good starting rotation for an improved Padres team in 2020, but the Padres took that big step forward without him, as he pitched just 3 times, twice as a starter, for a total of just 5 2/3 innings during the abbreviated season. He allowed 13 hits and 5 runs to end up at 0-1, 7.94, missing out on the party as the Padres made it to the postseason. Following the season, on January 18th, he was the most recognizable name in a package of five players sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates to obtain veteran starter Joe Musgrove; however, the rebuilding Pirates were not interested in holding on to him and immediately flipped him to the New York Mets for another prospect, C/OF Endy Rodriguez.
He played 11 games for the Mets in 2021, including 8 starts, going 1-4, 4.46 in 38 1/3 innings. His season was ended by Tommy John surgery, and in 2022 he only appeared in the minors, going a combined 1-1, 2.13 in 8 games spread among three teams. In 2023, he started the season in the minors with the Syracuse Mets, where he was 2-0, 2.30 after 3 starts. That's when the Mets came calling, beset by injuries to a numbers of their projected starters, not to mention a ten-game suspension handed out to Max Scherzer. He made his return to the big leagues on April 21st a winning one when he went 7 scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants to earn a 7-0 win. His game score of 79 was the highest of his major league career.
Further Reading[edit]
- Anthony DiComo: "Lucchesi 'straight carving' in brilliant return to Majors: Alonso backs lefty, makes Mets history with MLB-best 10th homer", mlb.com, April 22, 2023. [1]
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