KC’s Seth Lugo Has Dominated With Improved Slider, ‘Goofy’ Seam-Shifter

Always an effective reliever, Seth Lugo wanted more. He chafed during his seven seasons spent almost solely in the New York Mets’ bullpen, believing he was miscast.

Turns out he was right all along.

Lugo has been one of the most effective pitchers in the major leagues in his first season in the Kansas City Royals’ rotation after signing a three-year, $45 million free agent deal this winter.

The numbers pop. He is 11-3 with a 2.21 ERA, and he leads the majors in victories, ERA, innings pitched and quality starts (14). He has thrown 122 innings, nearing the career high of 146 1/3 he set in the San Diego Padres’ rotation last season. His 193 ERA+, a figure that is adjusted to a player’s ballpark, leads the majors.

“He has refined the art of pitching,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said.

It has come with a serious mix of diligence and ingenuity. Lugo, a right-hander, credited his strong start to the refinement of a slider and the development of hybrid pitch that he experimented with in San Diego last season and has become a part of his repertoire.

“I call it the goofy pitch,” Lugo said.

The goofball — which can have slurve, cutter, and sweeper tendencies — is hard to categorize, but like the slider it moves away from right-handed hitters and gives Lugo a complement to his broad repertoire that includes two- and four-seam fastballs, a changeup and a state-of-the-art curve ball.

His curve has the highest spin rate in the majors. It averages more at 3,200 revolutions per minute, about 25 percent more rpms than the average major league curve. It has been his best pitch, especially against lefties, but he wanted to find something to spin the other way.

“For the longest time I hated facing righties,” Lugo said. “I couldn’t get something going away from them. Everything was moving in. I figured out how to throw a real slider, something with some horizontal movement. My whole life that was the pitch I was missing.”

San Diego pitching coach Ruben Niebla was adamant about adding a pitch that moved away, and when Rich Hill was acquired by the Padres from Pittsburgh at the 2023 trade deadline, Hill shared some ideas about a new delivery that he had learned from Pirates’ pitching coach Oscar Marin.

“It’s a seam-shifter, is how (Hill) described it,” Lugo said. “A couple of things clicked and we figured it out around the same time. It’s a grip that starts as a two-seam spin and turns into a one-seam spin and catches the air and shoots the other way.

“It has such a big break. With the way the seam catches, you don’t know how much it’s going to break every time you throw it. Every time you throw it it’s different. I can throw fastballs, curve balls, sliders, changeups, they are all going to be pretty similar. When you throw a sweeper or slurve, it is going to deviate five, eight inches.”

Bad hacks ensue. Exit velocity, hard-hit percentage and barrel percentage have decreased against Lugo this season, while his strikeout and walk rates are at normal levels. Righties are hitting .218 against him this season compared to a .245 career average.

“I call him the ’10-pitches guy,’” Kansas City catcher Freddy Fermin said. “He has everything. Everything is moving.”

The season is a vindication of sorts for Lugo, who made 237 of his 275 appearances for the Mets in relief. He maxed out with 18 starts in 2017.

“The whole time I was in the pen, I just thought if I pitched well enough I‘d get a chance to start,” Lugo said. “After so many years, I wouldn’t say I gave up on the idea, but I just thought there wasn’t a chance.

“Going into free agency (in 2023), I told my agent I wanted to start. Teams were taking me seriously. I was kind of second-guessing myself. I didn’t know if I could do it. Once I signed a contract with the Padres, it was a good few weeks that I really had to hammer into myself. ‘You’re starting. You have to commit to this.’”

Commitment and preparation translated into an 8-7 record and a 3.57 ERA in 26 starts, and convinced him and others that the rotation is where he belonged.

“The way I think about the game and watch the games, even as a reliever, I’m watching every single pitch,” Lugo said.

“‘I know what to throw here. I know what to throw the third time through (the order).’ That’s just the way I see the game, so being a reliever didn’t make sense to me. Throwing one inning, that’s not work.”

He chuckled.

“That’s a day off,” he said.

Lugo’s body of work screams that he should be American League starter in the All-Star game July 16, It would also bring him a little piece of Cooperstown. The All-Star Game lineup card is sent to the Hall of Fame every year.

“That would be awesome,” he said.