Derrik Lutz
Chatham 2005 & 2006
Pitcher
George Washington
For whatever reason, Chatham has been home to some dominant closers over the years, but few had as good a season as Derrik Lutz did in 2005.
On a team stacked with fireballers, power hitters and future pros — one of the more talented teams of the decade — Lutz emerged as one of the key pieces of the puzzle, despite the fact that he came from an A-10 school and didn’t have the typical pitcher’s frame. But after working as a starter at George Washington in 2005, Lutz slid into the closer’s role for the A’s and was absolutely lights-out.
He tied for the league lead with 12 saves and he didn’t allow a single run — earned or unearned — in the regular season. In 25 innings of work, he struck out 39, walked only three and allowed just 13 hits. Do a little math and you realize that’s a WHIP of 0.64. It doesn’t get much better than that.
After another strong spring with George Washington in 2006, Lutz was drafted in the 19th round by the Reds. He opted to make the trip to the Cape and pitched in six games before signing. He allowed one run in those six appearances, bringing his career regular-season ERA to 0.28.
After the Cape
Lutz has climbed slowly but surely through the Reds system and 2009 saw him put up his best numbers yet. Working out of the pen for Double A Carolina, Lutz had a 1.99 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 22.2 innings.
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I saw Lutz pitch with the Dayton Dragons for a short time in 2006. He was working mostly in middle relief, so it’s hard to get a feel for a guy that pitches two innings at a time. That being said, he was very effective and I thought that he could have been a closer in the minors, and eventually a set up guy in the majors. While I don’t remember him as being overpowering with a fastball, I still think he had decent strikeout numbers (about one an inning or so I would guess).