Gary Lucas (baseball)

Gary Paul Lucas (born November 8, 1954) is an American retired pitcher who pitched in the Major Leagues with the San Diego Padres (1980–83), Montreal Expos (1984–85) and California Angels (1986–87).

Playing career

Lucas was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 1st round of the 1973 amateur draft. He failed to come to terms with the Reds on a contract and became re-eligible for the draft, subsequently being selected by the San Diego Padres in the 19th round of the 1976 amateur draft.^[1]

Lucas made his major league debut on April 16, 1980, pitching one relief inning in a Padres' loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was used as a starting pitcher for much of his rookie season before being used exclusively as a reliever for the remainder of his major league career. In 1981, Lucas led all National League pitchers by appearing in 57 games. In his final major league appearance, Lucas pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless work to close out a Jack Lazorko win for the California Angels on October 3, 1987.^[2]

In eight major league seasons, he posted a career record of 29–44 with 63 saves and a 3.01 ERA in 669 innings.

Coaching

Lucas currently serves as pitching coach with the Beloit Snappers, the Minnesota Twins' Class-A team. He began coaching the Snappers in 2005 before spending the following two seasons as a coach with the Class-AA New Britain Rock Cats. Wanting to be closer to his home in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, Lucas asked to be reassigned back to Beloit, where he remained through 2012,^[3] when the Twins moved their Midwest League team to Cedar Rapids. Lucas spent one year in Cedar Rapids, before being moved to the Twins High-A franchise, the Fort Myers Miracle in 2014. Lucas was dismissed by the Twins following the 2014 season.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball all-time saves leaders

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference