Jose LOOGY

by ~ March 3rd, 2009 at 11:38 am

Lugo, Jose - Mariner Central Sequence

Jose Lugo, LHRP.  Click to enlarge.  Courtesy of Lonnie @ Mariner Central

You may as well call this guy Jose LOOGY, because he’s got the makings of a great left-handed specialist.  As you can see, the Rule 5er throws dead sidearm and appears to crossfire from the first base side of the mound.

Lugo is off to a fast start this spring.  Management is already using him situationally (just pretend that’s a word) as he’s pitched to just 5 batters over his 3 games, retiring everyone he’s faced.

Dave Cameron at USS Mariner has deemed him “a left-handed Roy Corcoran with more velocity,” which seems like a great comparison.  Armed with a heavy sinking fastball and not a lot else, Lugo has caused hitters to chop the ball into the ground nearly 60% of the time.

I don’t there is going to be much of a competition for the two lefty spots in Seattle’s bullpen.  As a Rule 5 selection, Lugo is going to have to have a horrible Spring Training to not make this team as a low leverage reliever (he hasn’t played above A-ball, after all).

The lefty setup man spot will almost certainly go to Ryan Rowland-Smith assuming Jarrod Washburn starts the regular season with the team.  Jason Vargas, Justin Thomas and Chris Seddon– who are all off to good starts– will likely have to start the season in AAA waiting for an injury, trade or implosion in order to reestablish themselves as major leaguers.  Garrett Olson, too.

There isn’t much point to this.  I just wanted an excuse to post Lonnie’s very cool sequence.  I can’t wait to see this kid in action.

Also, if you notice the “Inverted W” in Lugo’s motion all by yourself then I have done my job in bringing additional attention to the mechanical flaw.  In Lugo’s case it is hardly worth pointing out as he’s a low cost reliever who will pitch in short enough bursts that he should be able to avoid injury for the most part throughout his career.

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  • http://www.blog.chelsearecruiters.com elkboy3

    Just out of curiosity…is there a reason to call it an “Inverted W” instead of just an “M”?

    I’m only half kidding.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    From Chris O’Leary’s essay on the “Inverted W”:

    a pitching arm action cue that is referred to as the “Inverted W” (or the “Upside-Down W”, “M”, “Winged Arm Action” or “Breaking the hands with the elbows”).
    …
    Many people think I coined the term “Inverted W” and criticize me as a result for not using the much simpler term “M”. This is a perfectly valid criticism. However, the truth is that I did not coin the term the “Inverted W”. Instead, I believe the term “Inverted W” was coined by Paul Nyman.

    Call if what you like. I like “Inverted W” because it implies “the opposite of W”. Since forming a “W” is the right thing to do, the term “Inverted W” would be clearly incorrect… at least in my mind. That’s why I prefer that term.

  • http://www.marinercentral.com Lonnie

    Lugo looked pretty good out there the few times I saw him. He seemed to have pretty good velocity on this FG (no radar at ST stadiums). I like what I’ve seen from the kid so far.

    He hasn’t played above “A” level? I wasn’t aware of that.

    Lonnie