Lugo embraces debut nerves: 'The best feeling about baseball'

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- At 34 years old and an eight-year Major League Baseball veteran, Seth Lugo knows what the ramp-up looks like in Spring Training and knows what he needs to prioritize to get ready for the season.

But he’ll still always get a little bit nervous for his first spring appearance.

“There are nerves every year,” Lugo said with a grin. “First Spring Training game. Excited to get out there. Didn’t quite sleep the greatest. I was just excited and ready to go.

“If you’re not nervous, you don’t care. Hopefully, that feeling never leaves me. That’s the best feeling about baseball, being nervous going out there and performing and overcoming that.”

The adrenaline was pumping for Lugo’s first Cactus League appearance as a Royal on Monday afternoon in Kansas City’s 6-0 win over the Cubs at Surprise Stadium. One of the Royals’ headline signings this winter to improve the rotation, Lugo threw two innings and 27 pitches (16 strikes), allowing a hit and a walk. He hit one batter and struck out another.

“Overall, I like his tempo, he fielded his position, threw all his pitches for strikes,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Everybody’s going to have some nerves, especially the first time out. And that’s cool to hear. Because that means he’s invested in what he’s doing.”

Lugo flashed all his pitches but had some trouble landing his signature curveball for a couple of batters, thanks to the dry air in Arizona that typically messes with the snap of breaking balls and the aforementioned nerves. Lugo hit Nick Madrigal on the helmet with a sailing, 77 mph curveball and then brushed Jorge Alfaro back with another.

But Lugo rebounded quickly to induce a double play on a curve and then a strikeout to get out of the trouble.

“I’ve known for years, when you throw in Arizona, you’ve got to take a little bit off to give it some time to break with the dry air,” Lugo said. “So just being excited, little nerves, overthrew a couple. I made sure to make the adjustment before the inning was over.”

Lugo also threw his new cutter, a pitch that he worked on this offseason, with the goal of giving hitters a different look from his typical arsenal. That adds to the new look of his sweeper, which he threw for the first time last year, and his two changeups that he tinkered with last year, as well: A two-seamer with horizontal run and split-change with vertical sink.

With three cutters Monday, he induced a popout, a swing-and-miss and a foul ball.

“The best way to figure out how good your pitches work is to throw it over the plate,” Lugo said. “Make sure it’s inviting to hitters to swing at. So that was the goal, make sure that it’s near the zone where guys think it’s a strike.”

Lugo has been as advertised in his first two weeks of his Royals career, not only in how he’s gone about his work, his fill-up-the-zone approach and more, but also with how he’s interacted with his new teammates.

He’s made his way to the backfield for nearly every live BP thrown so far and offers his thoughts when asked.

“More than I could have hoped as far as what he’s contributing to the other pitchers,” Quatraro said. “He’s been super involved. He’s watching every live BP, he’s watching every bullpen. Sharing and interacting, not telling people what to do by any means, but just picking their brains and sharing his ideas. It’s been really cool.”

Lugo is trying to get a feel for who his new teammates are, what their stuff looks like and how they work on the field and off. And if they want to talk pitching, Lugo is more than willing -- at least, more than any other subject.

“That’s the only thing I really feel comfortable talking about,” Lugo said with another small grin.

The Royals are hoping the way Lugo and Michael Wacha, who makes his spring debut Tuesday against the Padres, approach pitching trickles down to their young arms: Throw strikes, limit walks and locate your pitches. Neither Lugo nor Wacha have overpowering stuff, but they both locate their fastballs, have deception and change speeds to throw off timing.

“Even if you just watch those guys throw bullpens, it’s not like every pitch is where they want it. But their misses are very fine,” Quatraro said. “And then it’s repetition. It’s not rocket science. They’ve had more chances to refine their delivery and repeat it and understand what it feels like when they miss. And they understand their body movements.

“That’s not something that’s really common for a young pitcher. For them to have those reps, it also gives a sense of patience for the other guys. Like, ‘OK, I don’t need to be Greg Maddux on Day One of my career.’ That takes time to evolve.”