Joey Lucchesi Makes Draft Slight Work In His Favor

Tall and lanky at 6-foot-5, lefthander Joey Lucchesi certainly looks the part. His stuff also passes the sniff test.

Lucchesi throws a low-90s fastball and a 12-to-6 curveball that both play up because of his strong command.

The 23-year-old’s delivery made him unhittable at times at high Class A Lake Elsinore. Lucchesi initiates his delivery by lifting his arms above his head, then he pauses mid-motion, then he hurriedly kicks his leg high and bursts toward the plate.

“His motion is so funky . . . that hitters can’t time it up,” Lake Elsinore teammate Eric Lauer said last fall. “They can’t load (their swings) because nothing’s going to be in sync with his windup and how long it takes, how intricate it is. He’s a mechanical genius.

“But just watch him. Don’t do it. Because I don’t think many other people can do it.”

Hitters are certainly befuddled.

A fourth-round pick from Southeast Missouri State in 2016, Lucchesi opened eyes last summer with a 56-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his pro debut at short-season Tri-City and low Class A Fort Wayne.

This season Lucchesi allowed two runs or fewer in each of his first six California League starts. He struck out a career-high nine batters in his May 1 start.

Through eight starts he went 3-1, 1.93 with a sparkling 50-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Opponents still struggled to square him up. They hit just .185.

Lucchesi’s athleticism intrigued the Padres as they scouted him during his senior season. So too did the look in his eye as an undrafted junior.

“That motivates me to this day,” Lucchesi said. “Every day I’m pitching I’m thinking, ‘What makes these first-rounders better than me?’

“I know I’m just as good—or maybe even better—than a lot of guys out here.”

— Jeff Sanders covers the Padres for the San Diego Union Tribune