Nippon Professional Baseball’s Chiba Lotte Marines are signing pitcher Joey Lucchesi, the club announced.
Lucchesi was released by the Los Angeles Angels earlier this month despite pitching well at Triple-A Salt Lake, where he recorded a 3.24 ERA and a 31.9% strikeout rate across 33 ⅓ innings.
The California native made his Major League debut with the San Diego Padres in 2018 and posted a solid 4.08 ERA over 26 starts as a rookie. He was traded to the New York Mets in 2021 as part of a three-team deal that also involved Joe Musgrove and David Bednar, and has since spent time with the San Francisco Giants and Angels organizations.
Overall, the 33-year-old owns a 4.15 ERA across 436 ⅓ Big League innings, with a 22.8% strikeout rate and an 8.4% walk rate.
Lucchesi works with a low-to-mid-90s fastball and sinker, a low-80s splitter, and his signature “churve,” the unorthodox breaking ball that has become associated with him throughout his career.
The 6-foot-5 southpaw joins a Marines team that has hovered around .500 for much of the season and currently sits five games out of a Pacific League postseason spot. Lotte brought in fellow left-handers Sam Long and Jose Castillo during the offseason, but the results have been underwhelming. Long has been relatively serviceable in a swingman role, while Castillo has struggled badly out of the bullpen.
The Marines’ rotation currently owns the worst ERA and FIP in NPB, with the staff further weakened by a season-ending injury to ace Atsuki Taneichi and the struggles of young right-hander Haruya Tanaka. Among Lotte pitchers with at least six starts this season, Andre Jackson is the only one to post an ERA+ above league-average.
Lucchesi could be the help the Marines have been searching for as they try to remain competitive in a crowded PL playoff race.
Photo: San Francisco Giants’ Joey Lucchesi during a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
