Quote Originally Posted by Deester11 View Post
clv, I've noted since rookie ball that his stuff is good. Very good. His pitching acumen, not so much. And I've seen him quite a bit. He seems to expect a disaster when he gives up a hit. That 'bulldog' mentality escapes him. Worried, yes. Fixable.....maybe.
Don't get me wrong - I'm far from an advocate of giving up on him, he IS still young. But I think the time for comparing him to a young Teheran learning to make adjustments has long passed. Lucas' numbers have gotten progressively worse with each new challenge - you can only play the "young for his age" card for so long. Julio was pitching at Gwinnett at the same age, and his WHIP and walk rates only reached Lucas' 2014 level when he was the same age against significantly better competition when the organization took a pitch away and had him focusing on things to make him a finished product rather than his results.

My concern with Lucas is that expectations seem to be far too high for what we've seen from him to this point, and that the time is approaching that those expectations need to begin to adjust. He won't be a "failure" if he turns into a #4 or #5 starter, but that may be what his ceiling is if he doesn't begin to make adjustments. "Fixable" to reach the level many felt he was capable of may not be the right term, but that doesn't mean he can't turn out to be a back of the rotation contributor - simply that he's got work to do to even be that.