Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo was one of the better stories in baseball two seasons ago. An MLB veteran, Lugo has spent time as a starter and a reliever throughout his career. When he arrived to the Royals in 2024, he was coming off a season with the San Diego Padres where he returned to starting for the first time in five seasons.
Appearing in 26 games for the Padres in 2023, all as a starter, Lugo posted a 3.57 ERA. Prior to that season, he had not started more than seven games since 2017 with the New York Mets. The years in between were primarily spent out of the bullpen.
While this was a bit of a career rejuvenation for Lugo, he took it to another level in his first season with the Royals. Starting 33 games for Kansas City, Lugo posted a 3.00 ERA in 206.2 innings pitched, striking out 181 batters and posting a 1.08 WHIP. This performance not only earned him his first career All-Star selection, but he finished second in Cy Young Award voting and actually received down-ballot MVP votes that earned him a 15th-place finish in the American League.
For good measure, Lugo also won the Gold Glove Award for American League pitchers in 2024.
It was truly a remarkable season for the 34-year-old, but the magic did not continue in 2025. While Lugo still started 26 games last season, his ERA ballooned to 4.15, as did his WHIP to just under 1.30.
It has been a mixed bag so far in 2026, as Lugo has made nine starts to the tune of a 3.76 ERA, but his WHIP is a career-worst 1.42.
Despite this, in Year 11, the veteran right-hander is making some history. On Wednesday, he became the 46th active pitcher in MLB history to reach 1,000 strikeouts, which is a very impressive milestone. This is especially the case since Lugo has only started 132 of his 369 career appearances, meaning he has faced a lot fewer batters than he would have as a starter for his entire career.
While Lugo has not found his dominant 2024 form, he remains a valuable innings eater for a volatile Royals staff. His 110 ERA+ is still better than league average, which means he is still a nice piece for Kansas City despite not being as dominant as he was a couple of seasons ago.