Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo has been one of the best in the business in 2024. After switching between a reliever and starter his first three seasons, he settled into a bullpen role with the New York Mets.
He stayed there for most of the remaining four seasons of his tenure in New York. But, when he joined the San Diego Padres in 2023, he became a starter full-time. That has continued with the Kansas City Royals, where he has turned into a reliable option atop their rotation.
Seth Lugo currently leads the MLB with nine wins and a .900 winning percentage, 12 games started and 78.1 innings pitched. He is also first in batters faced with 312 and ERA+ with an incredible 238; 100 is the league average.
His success has been predicated on inducing soft contact from opponents. He isn’t a high strikeout pitcher with 66, but has been pinpoint with his control and mixing things up well. On Wednesday, his latest victim was the Minnesota Twins.
Seth Lugo went six innings, giving up six hits and three walks with five strikeouts, resulting in only one earned run. The Royals won the game 6-1, which led to some impressive MLB history being matched.
According to OptaSTATS, Seth Lugo is only the second pitcher in the modern era to win his first six road starts while allowing one or fewer runs in all of them. The other was Greg Maddux in 1995, who accomplished that feat in his first seven road starts and took home the Cy Young award.
Any time a pitcher can accomplish something only Greg Maddux has, they are doing something right. Seth Lugo has been a big part of the Kansas City Royals breaking out in the 2024 campaign, as they have positioned themselves as legitimate playoff contenders in the American League.
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