Joey Lucchesi considers himself to be an over-thinker. At least he was through the first six weeks of the season.
The Mets lefty feels he pitches at his best with a clear head, but given the wave of information and data that is made available to players in the modern game, Lucchesi’s mind can feel cluttered when he takes the mound.
To combat that, Lucchesi has a new rule: one day of scouting and video in between starts, and when it comes time to pitch, the only thought allowed to hover around his focused mind is where the catcher’s glove is positioned.
“Just keeping it simple,” Lucchesi said after another strong outing on Friday night. “Like I’ve been saying, I was just thinking too much in my head in my outings, and just from speaking to our staff and coaches, simplifying it and just thinking ‘hit the glove.’ That’s helping me a lot. Just simplifying each at-bat.”
Lucchesi felt he got too invested in scouting report research when he was coming out of the bullpen, and now, as a starter, the 28-year-old is trying to clear his mind rather than cram it.
“I just feel like I looked at the scouting reports way too much,” Lucchesi said. “I’m just given a day of full video, and when the day comes to pitch, I’m like ‘alright, give me the ball,’ and I’m just thinking ‘hit the glove.’”
Lucchesi’s new method of preparation, and the mindset of less is more, is leading to much better results. Over his last five starts, the southpaw hasn’t allowed more than one run in an outing, giving up just three runs in his last 22.2 innings, while opponents have managed an OPS of just .539 in that span. Lucchesi’s dominant stretch continued on Friday night in Washington, putting together what was arguably his best outing of the season, striking out five over 5.1 scoreless frames, the longest outing of his season so far.
“He threw his fastball to both sides, he threw his churve as well, and he’s got a third pitch that he’s flashing as well,” manager Luis Rojas said. “When he does that, batters are off balanced. They’re thinking now, and we saw that a lot [Friday]. Guys out in front, being late on fastballs and taking fastballs for strike three. Any time he’s throwing all his pitches for strikes, I think they’re gonna work well for him.”
Instead of relying on scouting report cards, Lucchesi spends much more time nowadays focused on the catcher’s glove in front of him, letting his battery mate handle the research when it’s not his set day for study. Given how he’s pitched of late, the Mets likely don’t mind Lucchesi slacking a bit on his homework.
“The more relaxed I am, the better I do on the mound,” Lucchesi said. “If I have all this stuff in my head, I’m not gonna do well.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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