The Kansas City Royals have been one of the bigger surprises across the MLB this season, as they are firmly in the American League wild card race as the All-Star break approaches. A big reason for their success has been their starting rotation, with offseason free agent signing Seth Lugo leading the way as a potential Cy Young candidate this season.
Lugo signed a three-year, $45 million contract with the Royals last offseason, and he is in the middle of what is easily the best season of his career so far (11-3, 2.21 ERA, 110 K, 1.04 WHIP). A big reason for the veteran pitcher's success is his ability to throw a whopping eight different types of pitches, and Lugo recently opened up on how leaning into his diverse pitch portfolio has helped him excel with the Royals.
“Having all those different mixes and just going pitch to pitch and swing to swing, another team could say I’m wrong, but I feel like I’m not predictable. You can’t say ‘It’s a percentage count, here’s what he’s throwing.’ Because every hitter is different. It’s all relative. It’s all timing. As soon as you’re thinking about something, the brain’s going to slow down.” – Seth Lugo, The Athletic
Seth Lugo has been dominant so far for the Royals
Lugo's pitch repertoire features a four-seam fastball, a sinker, a cutter, a curveball, a slider, a slurve, a sweeper, and a changeup. And if you ask the man himself, he believes that he actually throws more than eight pitches, so it's fair to wonder whether or not he's in a league of his own throwing more than eight different types of pitches.
The results have been overwhelmingly positive to this point, as Lugo has earned the first All-Star berth of his career. He's currently leading the majors in ERA and ERA+, and he's also tied for the American League lead in wins. While Lugo had turned himself into a solid starter in 2023 with the San Diego Padres, he's never come close to experiencing this level of success in his career.
A big reason why is because he's consistently able to keep hitters off balance with his plethora of pitches. While he also needs to be able to know when and where to use each pitch, it makes things increasingly difficult for opposing hitters, because they can never truly guess what Lugo is going to give them.
As a result, Lugo is firmly in the AL Cy Young race, and if he can keep on dominating at this rate, he could very well go on to win the award from seemingly out of nowhere. His ability to mix and match all these different pitches has allowed him to unlock his full potential, and if the Royals do end up finding their way into the playoffs this season, chances are Lugo is going to be a big reason why.
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