Lucas Luetge

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Lucas Lester Luetge

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Biographical Information[edit]

Lucas Luetge made his major league debut for the Seattle Mariners in 2012 after being selected by them in the 2011 Rule 5 Draft.

Amateur Career[edit]

Lucas was 8-3 with a 0.58 ERA and 143 strikeouts in 72 innings as a college senior, winning All-State honors. The Chicago White Sox took him in the 31st round of the 2005 amateur draft but he did not sign. He went on to junior college and had a 11-3, 3.56 record in 2006-2007. The White Sox selected him in the 18th round of the 2006 amateur draft; again, he did not sign. Transferring to Rice, Luetge was 1-0 with a save and a 6.16 ERA in 2008. He fanned 38 in 30 2/3 IP but had the third-worst ERA on the Rice staff. The Milwaukee Brewers took him in the 18th round of the 2008 amateur draft. The scout was Brian Sankey.

Minors[edit]

Luetge split the summer of 2008 between the Helena Brewers (4-0, 5 H, 13 K in 14 IP) and West Virginia Power (2-1, 3.72). In 2009, he was 6-7 with two saves and a 4.48 ERA for the Brevard County Manatees. The next year, he split action between the Manatees (1-1, 2.29 in 16 G) and Huntsville Stars (3-2, 3.48 in 23 G). In 2011, he was 1-3 with 3 saves and a 3.13 ERA for Huntsville, fanning 69 in 69 innings. He held lefties to a .175 average and no homers in 103 at-bats while whiffing 32 of them. The Seattle Mariners took him in the 2011 Rule 5 Draft even though he had never pitched in AAA. He was the third pick of the draft, following Rhiner Cruz and Terry Doyle.

Majors[edit]

The Texan made his big league debut as a LOOGY. He relieved Félix Hernández in the 7th inning with a 8-4 lead over the Oakland A's but with two men aboard and one out on April 7, 2012. He struck out Josh Reddick on three pitches then was yanked in favor of Steve Delabar, a bad move as Delabar gave up a three-run homer to Yoenis Céspedes. On June 8th, he was one of a record-tying 6 pitchers to combine in a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers in an interleague game. He came into the game in a difficult situation, after Stephen Pryor had walked the first two batters in the top of the 8th inning with the Mariners nursing a 1-0 lead. Lucas allowed a sacrifice bunt to the only batter he faced, James Loney, putting both runners in scoring position. Brandon League succeeded him and got his team out of the jam while preserving the no-hitter. He picked up his first career save on July 30th, pitching a third of an inning in completing a 4-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays; regular closer Tom Wilhelmsen was by his wife's side, expecting the couple's first child that day. He went 2-2, 3.98 with 2 saves in 63 games as a rookie, logging 40 2/3 innings. He struck out 38 batters, but also walked 24.

In 2013, he pitched 35 times out of the Mariners' bullpen, going 1-3 with a 4.86 ERA. He came in for slightly longer stints, as he pitched 37 innings and improved his walk rate significantly, from 5.3 batters per 9 innings to 3.9, but his hit rate increased and his strikeout rate went down. He also pitched 22 times with the Tacoma Rainiers that season, with no decisions and a 4.35 ERA. In 2014, he had a good season with Tacoma, going 3-2, 3.32 with 3 saves in 42 games, but he pitched just 12 games in the majors, with no decisions and an ERA of 5.00.

He pitched once for the Mariners in 2015, then was out of the majors for the next five seasons, not pitching at all in 2018 and in 2020. He made an unexpected return in 2021 when he managed to win a spot in the New York Yankees' bullpen in spring training, making his return to a major league mound on April 3rd. He went 4-2, 2.57 in 57 games, with 78 strikeouts in 72 1/3 innings. With recent rule changes, he could not be used in a pure LOOGY role, but that did not bother him as he became a reliable middle reliever for the Bronx Bombers and also recorded one save. In 2022, he had another good season, pitching 50 times and going 4-4, 2.67 with 2 saves, this time logging 57 1/3 innings. In spite of this good work, he did not see any action in the postseason either year. On December 28, 2022, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves in return for two minor leaguers, Indigo Diaz and Caleb Durbin.

Repertoire[edit]

Luetge's fastball is in the 80s but he is noted for his curveball.

Sources[edit]

Related Sites[edit]

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