Lucas Luetge

Luetge attended Bellville High School in Bellville, Texas. He enrolled at San Jacinto College, where he played college baseball for two years, and then transferred to Rice University, where he played college baseball for the Rice Owls.[2]

The Milwaukee Brewers drafted Luetge in the 21st round of the 2008 MLB draft. Luetge spent three and a half seasons with the Brewers minor league affiliates, reaching as high as Double-A with the Huntsville Stars in 2011.[2]

The Seattle Mariners selected Luetge from the Brewers on December 8, 2011 in the Rule 5 Draft.[3]

Luetge pitches for the Mariners in 2012

On April 7, 2012, Luetge made his MLB debut. On June 8, 2012, he was one of 6 pitchers that the Mariners used to no-hit the Dodgers. He recorded one out, getting James Loney on a sacrifice bunt. Luetge was the fourth pitcher to throw in the no-hitter after Kevin Millwood and Stephen Pryor was taken out of the game. In his rookie season, Luetge registered a 3.98 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 40.2 innings of work.[4] The next year, Luetge pitched to a 4.86 ERA in 35 appearances, along with only 27 strikeouts in 37.0 innings pitched, while splitting time between Seattle and the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers.[5] Luetge spent 2014 up and down between Tacoma and Seattle as well, recording a 5.00 ERA with 7 strikeouts in 9.0 innings pitched for the big league club.[6]

Lucas Luetge with the Mariners in 2013

On On September 5, 2015, Luetge was outrighted off of the Mariners 40-man roster. At the time, he had only thrown 2.1 innings of scoreless ball on the year, spending the majority of the season in Triple-A.[7] On November 7, 2015, Luetge elected free agency.

On November 17, 2015, Luetge signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Angels organization.[8] On May 22, 2016, Luetge was selected to the Angels' active roster, however he was designated for assignment on May 25 without making an appearance for the big league club.[9] On May 27, he was outrighted to the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, where he spent the remainder of the season.[10] On October 3, 2016, Luetge elected free agency.

On November 25, 2016, Luetge signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds organization.[11] Luetge was assigned to the Triple-A Louisville Bats.[12] On June 1, 2017, the Reds released Luetge.[13][14]

On June 4, 2017, Luetge signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles organization. [15] He pitched in 4 games for the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, logging a 4.50 ERA with 3 strikeouts in 4.0 innings of work. Luetge elected free agency following the season on November 6.[16]

On February 4, 2019, Luetge signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.[17] In 2019 his 55 games pitched tied for the lead in the minor leagues.[18] After splitting the season with the Double-A Jackson Generals and Triple-A Reno Aces, Luetge elected free agency on November 7, 2019.

Luetge signed a minor league contract, with an invite to major league spring training, with the Oakland Athletics on November 25, 2019.[19] Luetge did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the 2020 Minor League Baseball season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was added to the Athletics' 60-man player pool for the season, but spent the entire year at the alternate site.[20] He became a free agent on November 2, 2020.

Luetge pitching for the New York Yankees in April 2021

Luetge signed a minor league contract with the New York Yankees for the 2021 season, receiving a non-roster invitation to spring training.[21] After a strong spring training in which he accrued 18 strikeouts in 10+1⁄3 innings pitched, Luetge was selected to the Yankees' Opening Day roster on March 31.[22] On April 3, 2021, in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Luetge appeared in his first major league game since April 25, 2015.[23] He finished the season with a 2.74 ERA in 72+1⁄3 innings across 57 appearances.[24]

Luetge made the Yankees bullpen for the 2022 season.[25] In 2022 he was 4–4 with a 2.67 ERA.[26] He was designated for assignment on December 21, 2022, following the signing of Tommy Kahnle.

On December 28, 2022, Luetge was traded to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for minor leaguers Caleb Durbin and Indigo Diaz.[27][28] On January 13, 2023, Luetge signed a one-year, $1.55 million contract with the Braves, avoiding salary arbitration.[29] Luetge made 9 appearances out of Atlanta's bullpen, but struggled immensely to the tune of a 10.24 ERA with 10 strikeouts in 9+2⁄3 innings pitched. On May 30, Luetge was designated for assignment by the Braves following the promotion of AJ Smith-Shawver.[30][31] He cleared waivers and was sent outright to the Triple–A Gwinnett Stripers on June 6.[32] On July 13, the Braves selected Luetge back to the major league roster.[33] On July 24, Luetge was designated for assignment by the Braves following Atlanta's acquisition of Pierce Johnson.[34] He again cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple–A on July 26.[35] Luetge once more had his contract selected to the major league roster on September 18.[36] He tossed two scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, but was designated for assignment the following day.[37] On September 21, Luetge cleared waivers and was outrighted to Gwinnett.[38] He elected free agency on October 13.[39]