Lucas Stijepan Erceg (born May 1, 1995) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Career

Amateur career

Erceg attended Westmont High School in Campbell, California. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 2014 and 2015 and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

. He was named first team All-

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

in 2015. Prior to the 2016 season, he was ruled academically ineligible and transferred to Menlo College.

Milwaukee Brewers

After one year at Menlo, the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

selected Erceg in the second round of the

2016 Major League Baseball draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be d ...

. He made his professional debut with the Helena Brewers of the Rookie-level Pioneer League and was promoted to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Single-A

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

after hitting .400 over 26 games. Erceg finished his first professional season with a .327 batting average, nine home runs and 51 RBIs in 68 total games between both teams. In 2017, he played for the Carolina Mudcats of the

High-A High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

where he batted .256 with 15 home runs and 81 RBIs in 127 games along with playing in three games for the

Colorado Springs Sky Sox The Colorado Springs Sky Sox were a Minor League Baseball team in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and was the Triple-A affiliate of the major league Milwaukee Brewers (2015–2018), Colorado Rockie ...

of the Triple-A

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

at the end of the season.

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ranked Ecreg as Milwaukee's fourth ranked prospect going into the 2018 season. He spent the 2018 season with the Biloxi Shuckers of the Double-A Southern League, batting .248 with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs in 123 games. He spent 2019 with the

San Antonio Missions The San Antonio Missions are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in San Antonio, Texas, and are named for the Spanish missions around which the city was founded. ...

of the Triple-A

, slashing .218/.305/.398 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs over 116 games. Erceg did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In 2021, Erceg began to convert to pitcher along with playing third base. Playing exclusively for Double-A Biloxi, he played in 50 games as a hitter, he slashed .223/.270/.379 with 3 home runs, 12 RBI, and 3 stolen bases. In 22 games (13 starts) as a pitcher, Erceg logged a 2-6 record and 5.29 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 47.2 innings pitched. Erceg split the 2022 season between Biloxi and the Triple-A

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the ci ...

, pitching in 49 games and registering a 3-4 record and 4.55 ERA with 69 strikeouts and 2 saves in 61.1 innings of work. Erceg was assigned to Triple-A Nashville to begin the 2023 season, where he made 13 appearances and struggled to a 6.46 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 15.1 innings pitched.

Oakland Athletics

On May 17, 2023, Erceg was traded to the

in exchange for cash considerations. On May 19, Erceg was selected to the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. He made his MLB debut that night versus the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

, allowing one run over one inning and recording one strikeout.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erceg, Lucas 1995 births Living people Baseball players from San Jose, California Baseball third basemen Biloxi Shuckers players California Golden Bears baseball players Carolina Mudcats players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Helena Brewers players Major League Baseball pitchers Menlo Oaks baseball players Nashville Sounds players Oakland Athletics players Salt River Rafters players San Antonio Missions players Sportspeople from Campbell, California Sugar Land Lightning Sloths players Westmont High School (California) alumni Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players