This year, the Kansas City Royals are putting a lot of faith in right-handed starter Seth Lugo to rediscover his form.
Lugo’s original three-year, $45 million contract was working out almost too well for the Royals, because 1 1/2 years in, he was a lock to opt out after his second season. Then, immediately after Kansas City locked him into a two-year, $46 million extension ahead of last July’s trade deadline, he imploded.
Before the extension, Lugo had a 2.95 ERA in 19 starts, though his 4.32 FIP suggested he was getting a bit lucky. In his last two months, which were interrupted by a lower back strain, he posted an ERA of 8.35 and gave up 10 home runs across 32 1/3 innings and seven starts.
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Lugo’s fastball the key to getting back on track?
Lugo recently revealed that one of his core philosophies this season is likely to be using his fastball more often, which he’s gotten away from as he’s advanced in his career to add more and more breaking pitches.
“I think over the past couple of years, all the breaking balls that I like to throw, it kind of gave me a reality check — we’ve got to use your fastball,” Lugo told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers on Tuesday. “We’ve got to command the fastball. Get up when I need to. So that’s been my focus.”
Lugo is unlike almost any other pitcher in baseball. He used 10 pitches last season, including seven of them at least 6% of the time. His “fastball” in this case could refer to the four-seamer, sinker, or cutter.
However, on the whole, he used those fastballs a combined 49.8% of the time last season, the lowest of his career since 2018, per Rogers.
There will be other challenges for Lugo to contend with. He’s entering his age-36 season, so he’s fighting off the aging curve, and he’s also got shorter fences for his home games at Kauffman Stadium, which is especially tough for a pitcher with a relatively high fly ball rate.
But the Royals are counting on the former second-place Cy Young finisher to help anchor the rotation again, and any conscious changes like this one are important to note.
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