Joey Lucchesi isn’t nodding toward anyone in particular when he lays out the evolution of the giant chip on his left shoulder. Certainly not Cal Quantrill nor Eric Lauer, two of the Padres’ three first-round draft picks a year ago and rotation-mates in Lake Elsinore’s prospect-packed pitching staff.

The Padres selected the 23-year-old Lucchesi in the fourth round of last year’s draft, some hundred picks later than “his buds.” A year before that, the 6-foot-5 left-hander was undrafted altogether even after emerging as his conference’s pitcher of the year at Southeast Missouri State, little-traveled in scouting circles.

“That motivates me to this day,” Lucchesi said after striking out a career-high nine batters last week at The Diamond. “I know I’m a little bit older so I have a chip on my shoulder. Every day I’m pitching I’m thinking, ‘What makes these first-rounders better than me?’

“I know I’m just as good – or maybe even better – than a lot of guys out here.”


The Joey Lucchesi File

College: Southeast Missouri State

Southeast Missouri State Drafted: 4 th round, 2016

4 round, 2016 Team: Lake Elsinore Storm

Lake Elsinore Storm Level: high Single-A

high Single-A Stats: 2-0, 1.09 ERA, 41 strikeouts, 10 walks, 33 innings, .187 avg. against

The numbers are backing up that assertion.

Six starts into his first full season, Lucchesi is not only pacing the Padres system with 41 strikeouts in 33 innings, his 1.09 ERA is tops in the high Single-A California League and seventh-lowest in all of minor league baseball.

Consider it an extension of an eye-opening pro debut that saw Lucchesi fashion an 18.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio – fourth-best in the minors – after leading the nation with 149 strikeouts his senior year at an Ohio Valley Conference school that had produced just three big leaguers and no draftees earlier than the sixth round.

Looking back, Lucchesi suspects that’s one reason why the draft came and went without a phone call his junior year. He’d talked with the Dodgers and Braves quite a bit that year while leading Southeast Missouri State with 93 strikeouts and going 7-2 with a 3.17 ERA.


A left-handed teammate with a higher ERA, Alex Winkelman, even went to the Astros in the 21st round that year.

As for Lucchesi, nothing but radio silence.

“I was disappointed and I was confused,” Lucchesi said. “I had a really good junior year. I had won pitcher of the year for my conference. I thought I did what I needed to do. I guess not. So I told myself to work even harder in the offseason.”

Increasing his strength was a focus.


A year later, Lucchesi’s velocity ticked up a few mph into the mid-90s. The command improved as did the crispness of his 12-to-6 curveball.

The look in his eye, of course, was what really sold area scout Troy Hoerner – formerly of the Astros – when he went back to the well after Winkelman emerged as an All-Star his first half-season in pro ball.

“That was a big piece of the makeup part that I loved about him,” said Hoerner, in his second year with the Padres. “He used it as a chip on his shoulder to prove he should have been drafted. He really used that to motivate him to become a dude and as the year went on he kept getting better and better with his performance.”

His quirkiness is a weapon, too, for Lucchesi, who insists on “Joey Fuego” as his nickname – not “Sloppy Joe” as Lauer and Quantrill suggest.


Long and lean, Lucchesi stretches his hands high above his head as he toes the rubber. He settles on a grip as he pulls the glove down to his face to hide his intention. After a brief pause, he sticks his butt out as he whirls into motion, adds a high, old-school leg kick and delivers the pitch.

More often than not, the hitter’s timing is off at the completion of a self-taught, intricate delivery that was refined over the years in front of a mirror.

“That he had the athletic ability to repeat that as well as he does was intriguing to our whole staff,” Hoerner said. “He’d developed his core so well, became so strong to manipulate his body to get into the same position every time. It’s unique and uncanny but fun to watch.”

Indeed, the staff was intrigued enough to move on him earlier than planned when using their seventh pitch – 114th overall – on Lucchesi last summer. He rewarded the faith with a 56-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his first 42 innings to warrant a spot at No. 24 in Baseball America’s assessment of the Padres’ top-30 prospects.


He should move even higher after following that up with six straight starts with two or fewer runs to start his stay with the Lake Elsinore Storm, one that could prove short the way he’s pitching.

“He has very good stuff and he has very good command,” Storm pitching coach Glendon Rusch said. “He has the ability to command three pitches, land pitches out of the zone for chase, land his change-up and his breaking ball for strikes. He’s a special one.”

Clearly.

In staff assembled in a six-man rotation to start the season, Lucchesi is starting Thursday on four days rest for the second time this season – just like Double-A San Antonio’s rotation. Meantime, Quantrill, Lauer and the rest of the Storm’s younger starters remain on five days rest.


Indeed, that sounds like the definition of the fast track.

Of course, that’s not Lucchesi’s concern as much as refining his breaking pitches and continuing to build strength and momentum.

“Every day I’m feeling more confident, more productive,” Lucchesi said. “I’m feeling more confident with each start.”


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jeff.sanders@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutSanders