Royals righty Seth Lugo thrives with deep arsenal

HOUSTON – What started as a dabbling around with different baseball grips has turned the Royals’ Seth Lugo into a distinguished pitcher with one of the deepest arsenals in the majors.

According to Statcast, Lugo has thrown 10 different types of pitches between 71.1 mph to 92 mph. However, the Shreveport, La., native is adamant he’s thrown more than the 10 that Major League Baseball has listed. 

As a member of the Padres in 2023, Lugo sought to throw a more efficient slider. He realized after throwing a couple of sliders the hitters were adjusting well to it. That same year, batters hit above .300 on his slider. 

To keep hitters off balance and off the slider, Lugo practiced different grips and arm slots to keep batters honest. He perfected the sweepers and now throws five variations of the curveball. The 35-year-old even developed a new slider this year. 

“I’ve always kind of tinkered with grips and pitches,” Lugo said. “As a pitcher you are not always going to have the same arm slot of feel for your pitches throughout a full season.”

Fooling hitters

As much as he tries to fool hitters with his variety of pitches he’s also tricked the Trackman, the system MLB uses to label pitches. In a recent start Lugo threw a few variations of sliders that he claims were labeled as split-fingers. 

Lugo throws many versions of the same pitch, however Lugo says many factors make the pitches distinct. He said the curveballs he throws have different shapes, horizontal movement, carry and spins.

Ironically, Seth Lugo has recorded an out with every pitch type except the slider. 

“Like both sliders they are two spins, but it gets tagged into the same pitch even though it’s two different looks,” Lugo said. “It’s pretty interesting, and it’s been fun to come up with new ideas all the time.”

More from Our Esquina

Salvador Perez wins Roberto Clemente Award

Salvador Perez enjoys ninth All-Star berth with family

Paletas, peanuts and Cracker Jack at Kauffman Stadium

Many pitchers throughout their careers surely try to get an advantage by making adjustments to their pitches. Nonetheless, at times those changes may be difficult to master because some might not have the command to get the ball over the plate. But the 10-year-journeyman has demonstrated he can throw all his pitches for strikes. 

Lugo, 35, has controlled the strike zone as a relief pitcher and as a starter. With the Mets he bounced around between a reliever and starter. He became a full time starter with the Padres, and now with the Royals. 

The veteran right-hander was drafted in the 34th round of the 2011 MLB Draft. It’s a long journey for a late-rounder to make the major leagues, and Lugo has done it by throwing strikes. 

Seth Lugo took long road to majors

Royals manager Matt Quatraro, who was a former minor league catcher, knows how difficult it could be catching Lugo. He sheepishly concedes that he doesn’t know how all the pitches are labeled on PitchCom.

“The key to guys like that, that have that many pitches, is that they throw so many strikes,” Quatraro said. “If the movement profile is slightly different, so be it. He’s going to be around the glove so you have a chance to react to it and catch it.”

Seth Lugo, Bowel-Locking 92mph Front Door Two Seamer. 💩

17 Inches of Run pic.twitter.com/94aYyvv2bN

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 11, 2025

Seth Lugo has had to adjust throughout his career. From being drafted in the late rounds to changing up pitches to make them more effective, Lugo has had four consecutive seasons with an ERA under 3.60. He also hasn’t had a losing record since he went 3-4 in 2020.

Moreover, Lugo’s confidence has been crucial to his sustained success. 

“I think my mentality when I’m out there is kinda what helps out,” Lugo said. “When you come out with a new pitch, you tend to be careful. You don’t want to get beat with something you’re not sure is going to work.

“Hitters know that they are going to get strikes when they face me. I’m going to go right at you even if it’s good stuff, new stuff or even when I don’t have my best stuff.”