Toronto Blue Jays Elvis Luciano helping everyone feel older
By David Hill
Want to feel old? On Sunday, the Toronto Blue Jays had the first player born in the 21st century make his major league debut.
It was bound to happen sometime. When the Toronto Blue Jays chose Elvis Luciano in the Rule V Draft, they had to keep him on the major league roster all season, or else return the hard throwing youngster to the Royals.
Luciano struggled in Spring Training, posting an 11.42 ERA and a 2.423 WHiP in his 8.2 innings, walking eight batters. However, he also recorded ten strikeouts, flashing his mid 90s fastball and solid curve. That combination was enough for the Blue jays to keep Luciano on the major league roster, although he had never pitched above rookie ball.
As Luciano was born on February 15, 2000, his debut would make him the first player born in the 21st century to appear in a major league game. That moment happened on Sunday, when he entered during the seventh inning of the Blue Jays eventual 4-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
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The Blue Jays wasted no time in throwing Luciano into the fire. He entered with two outs in the seventh, the Tigers having pushed two runs across to extend their lead to 3-0. With runners on first and second, he was brought in to stop the bleeding. Luciano did just that, getting the dangerous Nicholas Castellanos to fly out to center to end the threat.
He came back out for the eighth and continued to pitch reasonably well. After getting Miguel Cabrera to fly out, Luciano gave up a double to Niko Goodrum. An intentional walk put runners on first and second, but he was able to escape, as John Hicks flew out to right and Mikie Mahtook struck out to end the frame.
As far as debuts would go, that had to be more than the Blue Jays hoped for. While Luciano is going to have plenty of growing pains at the major league level, he more than held his own. A 19 year old kid, facing the heart of the Tigers order, managed to escape without allowing a run, giving the Blue Jays a chance to mount a comeback.
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With his performance, Elvis Luciano showed that he could be an asset for the Toronto Blue Jays this season. And, he made the rest of us feel that much older, as he became the first player born in the 21st century to play in the major leagues.