With a star-studded staff featuring a Cy Young winner in Jacob deGrom and a former All-Star in Noah Syndergaard it can be pretty easy to overlook a relief pitcher. Mets fans, Seth Lugo is not a name to overlook.
This year, “Quarterrican” pitched 101.1 innings, striking out 103, allowing 30 earned runs, posting a WHIP of 1.076, a WAR of 2.1 and finishing with a stellar 2.66 ERA. This was an All-Star year. At the break, Lugo had 69 innings under his belt, 72 strikeouts, 20 earned runs, a WHIP of 1.10, and an ERA of 2.61. At that time, he had similar or better stats to All Stars Brad Hand and Felipe Vazquez.
Seth also should’ve been considered as a finalist for Reliever of the Year for the National League. Josh Hader, the winner was well deserving of the award, but it is blasphemous that Wade Davis and Kenley Jansen were chosen to be finalists over Lugo. Wade Davis, the closer for the Colorado Rockies pitched 65.1 innings, had 78 strikeouts, allowed 30 earned runs, a WHIP 1.056, a WAR of 1.1, and an ERA of 4.13. Yes, Seth did have 30 plus innings on Wade, so maybe Davis could’ve dropped that four plus ERA if he had more opportunities. But in the end Seth Lugo still had a better season than him. Kenley Jansen, the closer for the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched 71.2 innings, had 82 strikeouts, 24 earned runs, a WHIP of 0.991, a WAR of 0.6, and an EAR of 3.01. These two seasons were very similar, which would still put Seth Lugo in consideration for the Reliever of the Year.
After Seth Lugo’s amazing year, I’d keep an I eye out for him as a sleeper pick for your fantasy baseball team. He is eligible as a starting pitcher and relief pitcher.
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