Joseph George Lucchesi...son of Kenneth and Michelle Lucchesi...nickname is "Joey Fuego"...2011 graduate of Newark (CA) Memorial High School...played two seasons at Chabot College in Hayward, Calif., and helped guide his team to the Golden Coast Division Championship in 2013...transferred to Southeast Missouri State and became the first pitcher in Ohio Valley Conference history to win OVC Pitcher of the Year in back-to-back seasons...as a senior, named a Second Team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association as well as a Second Team All-South Selection by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings...also earned first team honors from Louisville Slugger and Collegiate Baseball as well as a third team selection from Baseball America.. his 149 strikeouts his senior year set a new school and Ohio Valley Conference record and his 242 career strikeouts broke the Southeast Missouri all-time record...he concluded his two-year career at Southeast Missouri with a 17-7 record, a 2.62 ERA and a .216 opponent batting average in 199.0 innings pitched...he became the highest draft pick (4th round, 114 overall) in school history...originally signed by Padres scout Troy Hoerner.
2018
Lucchesi (pronouced: loo-KAY-see) was selected to the ML roster on 3/30 and started SD's second game of the season that same day vs. MIL, becoming the first pitcher of the 2016 draft class to make their ML debut...Led the SD staff in SO (145) and ranked second in starts (26) and IP (130.0)...Among all ML rookies, ranked third in SO, tied for fourth in starts, tied for fifth in wins (eight) and sixth in IP...Became the 19th rookie in Padres history to reach the 20-start plateau in a single season…teammate Eric Lauer became the 20th rookie to do so later in 2018, marking the first time SD has had two rookies make 20-or-more starts since 1977...it has now been done five times (also: 1969, 1972 and 1974)...His 145 SO, along with Lauer's 100 SO, accounted for the first pair of SD rookies to surpass the 100-SO mark in the same season since Bob Shirley and Bob Owchinko in 1977...The 13 pickoffs between Lucchesi (three) and Lauer (10) were the most by a Padre rookie duo in franchise history...Among all ML pitchers who tossed at least 130.0 IP and made 25 starts-or-more, he allowed the fourth-fewest baserunners (172), behind only Chris Sale (150), Jordan Zimmerman (168) and Clayton Kershaw (170)...Earned his first ML victory in his third career start on 4/10 at COL, allowing two unearned runs on four hits and one walk with eight SO…became just the seventh pitcher in SD history to not allow a single earned run in at least 6.0 IP at Coors Field (last: Christian Friedrich, 6/12/16)...it has been done so eight total times, with Oliver Perez accomplishing the feat twice (7/7/02 and 9/7/02)...Logged a 1.66 ERA and a 2-0 record through his first four starts from 3/30-4/15...the last SD pitcher to have a sub2.00 ERA over his first four ML starts was Odrisamer Despaigne in 2014 (1.35)...Went on to allow three earned runs or fewer in eight of his first nine career outings from 3/30-5/14, posting a 3-2 record with a 3.23 ERA (17 ER, 47.1 IP) and 9.13 SO/9 IP...Placed on the 10-day DL on 5/15 with a right hip strain and missed the club's next 32 games before being reinstated on 6/20...made one rehab start for Lake Elsinore (A) on 6/14 vs. Rancho Cucamonga...Went 1-3 with a 3.60 ERA (8 ER, 20.0 IP) over his final five starts of the first half from 6/20-7/11, limiting hitters to a .187 average and 9.45 SO/9 IP...Optioned to El Paso (AAA) on 7/12 to make a start over the All-Star break (7/18 at Albuquerque) before being recalled by SD on 7/23...Went 4-4 with a 4.88 ERA (34 ER, 62.2 IP) over his 12 second half starts, posting 76 SO against 18 BB with a .280 opponent average...When tossing at least 5.0 IP, he went 8-4 with a 2.86 ERA (33 ER, 103.2 IP) with the Padres 11-8 in those 19 outings… when tossing 6.0 IP-or-more he went 4-0 with a 1.47 ERA (6 ER, 36.2 IP) with the Padres 5-1 in those six outings… when he tossed less than 5.0 IP, he went 0-5 with a 8.89 ERA (26 ER, 26.1 IP) with SD 0-7 in those seven outings...His 81 runs of support were tied with Clayton Richard for the most on the club…received three runs of support or more on 14 occasions, posting an 8-0 record with a 2.61 ERA (22 ER, 76.0 IP) in those starts...Went 5-4 with a 3.89 ERA (32 ER, 74.0 IP) across 15 starts at Petco Park, 3-4 with a 4.24 ERA (24 ER, 51.0 IP) in 10 road starts and 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA (3 ER, 5.0 IP) in his one start at Monterrey Stadium...His 4.90 ERA (41 ER, 75.1 IP) against the NL West was his highest ERA against a single division...Opponents hit .230 (20-for-87) against him with RISP, .195 (8-for-41) with RISP/2 out and 0-for-5 against him with the bases loaded.
