Pittsburgh Pirates: Players Who Must Be on Their Radar at the MLB Winter Meetings

Seth Lugo

Seth Lugo was teammates with Wacha last year with the Padres. Lugo was given the chance to be a full-time starting pitcher last season with the Friars. For the first handful of seasons of his MLB career, Lugo worked as a multi-inning/swingman type pitcher. However, all 26 of his appearances this past season were out of the Padres’ starting rotation. Despite the change, Lugo pitched well.

In 146.1 innings, Lugo worked to the tune of a 3.57 ERA, 3.83 FIP, and 1.20 WHIP. Lugo’s peripherals were even better than Wacha’s. He clocked in with a 23.3% strikeout rate, a 6% walk rate, and an HR/9 of 1.17. Lugo wasn’t nearly as effective as Wacha at limiting hard contact. He was in just the 8th percentile of exit velocity (90.8 MPH), and the 13th percentile of hard hit rate (44.3%). But Lugo did have more promising underlying metrics than Wacha.