A pair of former Southeast Missouri State pitchers have been successfully climbing the ranks in minor league baseball, on their journeys to the big leagues.
Alex Winkelman and Joey Lucchesi, both left-handed pitchers, have experienced tremendous success in their brief professional baseball careers.
Winkelman, a native of Crystal City, Missouri, was drafted in the 21st round of the 2015 draft by the Houston Astros organization, and displayed impressive command in the Rookie league and Short-season A ball. Last year, his first full season as a professional, he impressed coaches and scouts enough to pitch at three different levels – beginning the season in Short-Season A, and rising through Full-Season A before finishing the year with the Advanced A squad.
And this season has been more of the same for Winkelman. In eight appearances with the Advanced A ballclub, the southpaw posted a 1.39 ERA and recorded 46 strikeouts to just 6 walks. He recently earned a call-up to the Double A Corpus Cristi Hooks, and made his first Double A appearance against the Springfield Cardinals in Springfield, with many family and friends in attendance to cheer him on.
Meanwhile in the San Diego Padres organization, Joey Lucchesi may also be looking forward to an upcoming promotion to Double A. After going undrafted after his junior season, Lucchesi became Southeast’s highest ever draft pick last summer when he was chosen in the fourth round by the Padres. This season at Advanced A, the lefty has posted a 2.41 ERA in 11 starts, including 76 strikeouts and only 17 walks in 59.2 innings. In a recent start on June 4, he struck-out a career high 12 batters in 6 innings.
The 2017 MLB Draft will be held next week, June 12-14, and several Redhawks from this year’s squad will hope to hear their names called and join Winkelman and Lucchesi in the professional ranks.
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