FORT MYERS, Fla. — New Red Sox reliever Lucas Luetge has a fun and interesting way to describe himself as a professional baseball player.
“I always tell people I’m like a cockroach,” Luetge said Saturday at JetBlue Park. “You can’t get rid of me.”
The 36-year-old left — who has gone through it all in his career but keeps returning for more — signed a minor league contract with the Red Sox right before spring training. He’s in camp as a non-roster invitee, competing to win a spot in the bullpen. He has a real shot as the Red Sox lack left-handed depth in the bullpen.
“I define my career like how I’m trying to raise my kids,” he said. “Things are going to suck sometimes. Things are going to be good. But don’t give up just because something got hard. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs but the ups outweigh the downs when you look back at things.”
His career has been a roller coaster. The 2008 21st round draft pick out of Rice pitched well as a 25-year-old rookie in 2012, posting a 3.98 ERA in 63 outings for Seattle. He struggled some over his next two seasons with a 4.89 ERA in 47 relief outings for Seattle, which designated him for assignment in May 2016.
He didn’t pitch at all in the major leagues from April 26, 2015 until April 3, 2021. He spent that time grinding it out in the minors and also missed 2018 completely because of Tommy John surgery.
He made the Yankees’ 2021 Opening Day roster after having not pitched in the big leagues for almost six years, then had a strong two-year run with New York. He recorded a 2.71 ERA, 2.92 FIP and 1.25 WHIP in 107 outings (129 ⅔ innings) in 2021-22 combined. The Yankees traded him to the Braves on Dec. 28, 2022. He was limited to just 12 appearances (13 ⅔ innings) in 2023 because of left bicep inflammation and poor performance (7.24 ERA). Atlanta designed him for assignment three different times.
But he just keeps going. He will turn 37 on March 24.
“I’m cutting myself off at 40,” Luetge said. “I hope I make it to that. I play every year like it’s my last because at this point, it could be. But at 40, I want to go home, I want to coach my kids in Little League. So that’s kind of the cutoff where I would not play no matter what.”
Opponents have gone just 6-for-83 (.072 batting average) with six singles against his fastball in the past three seasons (143 ⅓ major league innings).
“It’s my best put-out pitch. That’s for sure,” he said. “It’s kind of been like that my whole career. I don’t know what it is about it. But guys don’t see it well.
“It’s pretty sharp and moves a lot and I don’t overuse it,” he added. “I throw it when I think it’s appropriate to finish the at-bat most of the time or a guy that is maybe aggressive. So I think I pick my spots with it the best.”
He has been throwing a curveball since he was 9 years old.
“My dad taught me it,” Luetge said. “Has it evolved over the years? It’s gotten a little harder, a little sharper. But it’s always been a big Barry Zito-style curveball.”
He said his father taught him a basic grip. And he still uses a basic grip.
“It’s as standard a curveball grip as you can get,” he said.
His cutter, meanwhile, has been his most frequently used pitch the past three seasons.
“My cutter is my fastball. I don’t throw a true four-seam fastball,” he said. “Everything I throw naturally cuts. So I think the majority of pitchers, their fastball is their main usage pitch. So that’s how mine has been because that’s my natural fastball — just a cutter.”
His cutter/fastball usually is around 86-87 mph.
He feels like he pitched effectively for the Yankees in 2021-22 because of improved command. He averaged 9.6 strikeouts and 2.2 walks per nine innings.
“Everything just kind of came together,” he said. “The staff there kind of gave me a good game-plan of looking at things in a different way that I haven’t in the past. Just throwing the ball in the zone as opposed to trying to be so fine and hit my spots. So I think that was main thing of them just giving me confident of, ‘Hey, just throw it down the middle if you have to.’”
BetMGM BET $5, GET $158! BONUS BETS
STATES: MA, KY, AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MD, MI, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA. Visit BetMGM.com for Terms and Conditions. 21 years of age or older to wager. MA Only. New Customer Offer. All promotions are subject to qualification and eligibility requirements. Rewards issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets. Bonus bets expire 7 days from issuance. In Partnership with MGM Springfield. Play it smart from the start with GameSense. GameSenseMA.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org.
The Yankees told him he has unique stuff that plays differently from other pitchers. And that’s why they were OK with him throwing it down the middle.
“They said, ‘Anytime you’re in the zone you have success. When you get out of the zone, you don’t.’ So they kind of laid it all out on the table,” Luetge said.
He signed with the Red Sox right before camp but Boston’s interest in him has existed for a while.
“They were one of the teams that were most interested throughout the whole offseason,” Luetge said. “We were talking from the early stages on. So that’s always a sign they have true interest in you instead of just a filler. And I’ve had reasonable success against the Red Sox. So they know what I can do. They’ve seen me at the big league and Triple-A level. So there’s a little bit of history that they know what I have.”
Luetge always enjoyed watching lefty Cliff Lee growing up.
“Another cutter guy who didn’t throw overly hard,” Luetge said. “Coming in the minor leagues, they’d make us write down who you want to be equivalent to. That’s always the person I liked.”
