No one expected Lucas Luetge to make the big league team out of camp, let alone remain on the roster for the entire 162 games. And yet, that’s exactly what the veteran left hander did. An incredible Grapefruit League performance turned heads and earned him a spot on the Yankees’ Opening Day roster. Luetge rewarded the team’s faith with a 2.74 ERA and 2.84 FIP across 72.1 innings.
On paper, the Yankees’ bullpen looked terrific entering 2021. They didn’t need much more help with the likes of Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Chad Green, and Jonathan Loáisiga expected to handle the late innings. Things changed over time due to injuries (Britton) and performance variations (Chapman), but for the most part, the back-end of the bullpen didn’t need help. So when Luetge proved to be very effective, albeit more so in the middle frames rather than late in games, the rich got richer.