Stand Alone Redhawk

I spend a lot of time writing about college baseball players from NC State, as well as a few others that I get to see from opposing ACC schools and at USA Baseball during the summer.  Rarely do I get a chance to write about a baseball player from Southeast Missouri, which is the other college that I attended long ago in the late 1990s.  

It's a small teachers college located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri that is roughly halfway between St. Louis and Memphis.  Yes, the sports teams are Division I, they play in the Ohio Valley Conference with Murray State, Austin Peay, Belmont, and many others.  There have only been a handful of players from the school to reach the Majors.

The two of the more recent and notable players from the school were Shae Simmons.....

and Kerry Robinson.  

There is finally another former Redhawk who has made it the Majors.  In fact, since Shae Simmons was released in the middle of the summer by the Cubs, there is only one former Redhawk playing in the Majors at the moment.  I would have done a spot on him earlier in the year, but it took a long time for him to get an actual baseball card.

Meet Padres pitcher Joey Lucchesi.

There is a lot going on in that motion, but it has worked well for him this year.  He currently has 8 wins and should get at minimum of one more start before the end of the season.  Lucchesi missed a little bit of time this season, but his numbers have been solid.  He has an ERA in the 3.50 neighborhood and is averaging almost 10 strikeouts per inning.  

I ended up picking up one of the three or four cards of Lucchesi that have all suddenly appeared during the past month.  Don't worry, I will end up with the others too.  

This is from Panini Illusions.  

You know I don't really keep track of Panini, so I am not sure what else there is in this set.  Looks sort of like the late 1990s Flair cards with the logos airbrushed off the uniforms.

Regardless, I am happy to finally add a card of Joey Lucchesi to my collection.  After all, there have been ten players from Southeast Missouri State to reach the Majors and Joey Lucchesi is already the best pitcher to have come from the school, and probably will be the player with the best resume shortly.

For example, the most wins by any former Redhawk in the Majors, prior to Lucchesi, was Shae Simmons with 1.  Not sure how you pitch in three different seasons and only get one win, but it happened.  Lucchesi's first game pitched with at the beginning of April, by the middle of the month he had passed Simmons with two wins.  He also has 131 strikeouts, which is also the most.  If he sticks around for awhile, he will probably even pass by many of the position players in offensive stats outside of Kerry Robinson.

He has even already past Shae Simmons and Kerry Robinson in terms of WAR.

It's nice to see another former Redhawk with some staying power reach the Majors.  When it is all said and done Joey Lucchesi will likely stand alone as the greatest player to have ever come from Southeast Missouri.