Padres News: Seth Lugo Shares Hilarious Story About Negotiations With Friars

We all have to face one of these at some point.

A professional athlete certainly has to master at least the most basic forms of communication seeing everything that comes with their job. Whether it be speaking to media after a game, discussing the game plan with your teammates, or simply explaining something your coach, it is a necessity.

However, in the world of sports, official job interviews are never really in the mix. Most of the scouting is done through game and practice film and the majority of introductions are through visits. Playing in the MLB is far different than any other job in the world and one's resume is usually already in the hands of a coach before they actually meet with a player.

Then there is Seth Lugo of your San Diego Padres. After multiple seasons riddled by injuries and only serving as relief for the New York Mets, Lugo has finally been granted a shot to be a starting pitcher once again by the Friars. When speaking to Jeff Sanders of the San Diego-Union Tribune, he revealed that he was on a zoom call for two hours with multiple members of the Padres.

Seth Lugo, Absurd 83mph Curveball. 😳

3431 RPMs. pic.twitter.com/u28b9ZHXez

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 24, 2022

"“That was like my first real job interview,” said Lugo.“ … When I was selling Christmas trees, there’s no interviews. ‘Can you lift this?’ ‘Sure.’ When I was washing balls at a driving range, ‘Do you understand how to work this machine?’ ‘Yeah sure.’”

(Via Jeff Sanders)

Lugo was actually set to hit the pitching mound for Puerto Rico in this year's WBC but once he found out the Friars were interested in him being a part of the starting lineup, he quickly committed to the training camp full-time. He knows these opportunities don't always come around and also has already played in the WBC.

It is interesting to note that Lugo's best performances have been when pitches out of the bullpen as he has recorded a 2.91 ERA in those games. However, he could look to advantage of the multiple holes in San Diego's pitching staff right now and prove he belongs there.