QUEENS — This was exactly the kind of start Seth Lugo wanted in order to prove to himself — and even his former team, the New York Mets — that he was always capable of being a formidable starter in the majors.
“Absolutely [it’s gratifying],” Lugo, now a member of the San Diego Padres, said in the visitors’ clubhouse of his former home at Citi Field on Monday as his new club prepared to take on the Mets in a three-game series. “Being a starter for so many years pitching, pitching deep in games, that’s my goal for the season — to do that on a regular basis.”
The 33-year-old right-hander has been an early revelation in San Diego, going 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA to go with 12 strikeouts in 13 innings pitched. After allowing just one run on four hits in seven innings against the Colorado Rockies on April 2, he shut down the Mets’ NL East rivals, the Atlanta Braves, by allowing just one run again on five hits in six innings of work on Sunday.
Quite an impressive start for a pitcher that had been written off by the Mets as a viable option in their rotation.
Just six months ago, Lugo stood at his locker in the Mets clubhouse following the team’s 6-0 Game 3 eliminating loss to the very same Padres, holding back tears, and speculating about potentially leaving the team that he spent the past seven MLB seasons with after being drafted in the third round back in 2011.
But while “six to eight” teams reached out to Lugo this winter as he hit free agency, the Mets were not one of them, the righty admitted.
“There’s no bitterness,” Lugo said. “They treated me really good for a long time, most of my adult life. There’s a lot of appreciation for the organization.”
Lugo made it clear from the moment the Mets’ 2022 season ended that he wanted to start rather than continue the role he had adopted first as a hybrid starter and reliever before moving to the bullpen full-time. His previous 111.0 innings pitched in the majors between 2021 and 2022 were as a full-time reliever as his last start came during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.
“[I lost hope] a little bit,” Lugo said about his belief of potentially starting again in the majors. “[Having the chance to start] was really important. Probably the most important thing.”
While the sample size is small, Lugo is certainly repaying the Padres’ faith in him in spades at the beginning of a smaller two-year, $15 million deal. His arm certainly could be used by a Mets team that is seeing the bottom of its rotation struggle with Carlos Carrasco and David Peterson trying to find a way past early-season turbulence.
Instead, Lugo will watch the Mets from the visitors’ bench this series as his next turn in the rotation won’t come until his Padres are out of town.
“It’s a little weird,” Lugo admitted. “I’m sure there’ll be a chance [to face the Mets] later on down the road. We’ll get there when that happens.”
