Seth Lugo, who reportedly has deal with Royals, brings devastating curveball to KC
At spring training in February, then-Padres manager Bob Melvin was asked what he noticed most about pitcher Seth Lugo.
“His curveball,” Melvin said succinctly, per MLB.com.
Royals fans undoubtedly will notice that curveball, too. Lugo agreed to a three-year deal with the Royals on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan and MLB.com’s Anne Rogers.
Lugo will be bringing that devastating curveball to Kansas City.
Here are some highlights of Lugo’s curveball making hitters look foolish from the 2023 season.
As Rob Friedman, aka Pitching Ninja, noted in those videos, Lugo’s revolutions per minute on curveballs are ridiculously high.
When he broke in with the Mets in 2016, Lugo set a Statcast record with a curveball that was recorded at 3,498 revolutions per minute.
Lugo’s curveball ranked second in baseball this past season with an average spin rate of 3,240 RPM, according to Statcast. Only Ryan Pressly (3,288) was ranked higher.
“I knew I had a high spin rate, more than most,’’ Lugo told The New York Post in 2017. “The curveball is different than any other pitch, you have to put reverse spin on the ball.’’
At that time, Lugo believed part of his success with the spin rate could be attributed to one of his non-baseball pursuits: disc golf.
“I have no way to check the physics behind that,’’ Lugo said, “but I do give some credit to Frisbee golf, you have to snap that thing pretty good.’’
