One play spoke volumes about Seth Lugo the athlete during his rehab start last night for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. It might come as a surprise, but the defining game came when Logo was not on the pitching hill but in the batter’s box.
Binghamton trailed New Hartford 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth when Lugo came to the plate. The Rumble Ponies were trying to put together a mini rally at the time. With two outs and the bases clear, Gustavo Nunez singled. David Thompson lined a shot toward the corner that kicked past a diving Max White, the ball skipping into the corner with Nunez scoring. Lugo stepped to the plate with a chance to draw the Rumble Ponies closer.
The rehabbing Met pitcher lined a shot that originally looked like it might be a single up the middle. But, Ryan Castellani, the tall New Harford starting pitcher, managed to get a glove on it, the ball deflecting to the fist base side midway between the Yard Goat second baseman and first base.
Common sense might have necessitated that a rehabbing Lugo take his time running down the first base line. With the way things have been going for the Mets, it was scary thinking a hustling Lugo might someone come down wrong on first base suffering an injury and extending his time away from the big team.
But the competitive, athletic side of Lugo overruled common sense. Lugo may have been on a rehab assignment, but the Met right-handed pitcher was in a baseball game, a minor league Double-A baseball game that he wanted to win. Lugo took off like a shot, busting down the first baseline.
I admit, the sight of Lugo streaking toward first base caught me holding my breath. As Lugo lunged at the base, as many times a base runner going to first does on a bang-bang play, I literally gasped. He was out by a whisker, and thankfully uninjured.
When I relaxed seeing Lugo on his way to the mound to pitch the sixth inning, I considered what hustle of that sort said about Seth Lugo. His determination to beat the throw to the bag and keep the Rumble Pony inning alive was the same kind of determination the baseball world admired when Lugo worked this spring as the ace of the Puerto Rican baseball team in the World Baseball Classic. When Lugo accepts the ball for a pitching assignment who he pitches for doesn’t really matter. Lugo takes an all out attitude to the hill and it’s that attitude that allowed him to surprise so many people while pitching down the stretch during a play-off chase for the Mets last year.
By the way, although he was hit hard at times, Lugo looked to be pitching smoothly, mechanically sound and stress free in Binghamton last night. He worked 6 efficient innings surrendering 3 runs, all earned, allowing 7 hits walking 2 and striking out 7. After rolling almost effortlessly through the first three frames, Lugo ran into trouble in the fourth when he allowed all three New Hartford runs. New Hartford batters grouped three hits and two base-on-balls, one walking in a run, during the inning.
For the most part, Lugo had great command of his stuff staying ahead of hitters. Omitting the fateful fourth, Lugo threw first pitch strikes to 17 of the 20 batters he faced. He temporarily lost his command in the fourth throwing first pitch balls to 4 of the first five batters he faced. Each of those first five batters reached base safely with the first three scoring the only New Hartford runs of the evening.
I was flummoxed trying to figure out Lugo’s pitches. His fastball came in at or around 90 miles per hour although at least one fastball touched 94. I was flummoxed trying to figure out what pitch he was throwing in the 86-88 miles per hour range, a pitch that ran away from a left-handed batter. Lugo clearly had a changeup that arrived in the low 80’s, a big dropping slow curve that registered in the low 70’s and a faster moving breaking slider.
Two New Hartford pitchers charting pitches and speeds were siting across the aisle and one row back, so I asked for their thoughts on Lugo’s repertoire. They thought perhaps Lugo had two change-up deliveries, one slower by 8 or 9 miles per hour and one faster that resembled his fastball with a little less hop and that tail. The Yard Goat pitchers felt both changes arrived with the same spin and ball movement but at different speeds. One pitcher thought it was possible the pitch could be a sinker because it stayed low in the zone. They also thought Lugo threw an occasional cutter.
Whatever Lugo was throwing, he threw mostly for strikes. Lugo’s stay in Binghamton should be short with his next mound appearance most likely coming with the blue and orange of the New York Mets.
