Royals Prospects Rito Lugo and Angel Zerpa Named Pitchers of the Week
Lugo and Zerpa were named Carolina League and Appalachian League Pitchers of the Week, respectively
A pair of Royals farmhands were among Minor League Baseball’s weekly award winners for August 5–11, announced on Monday. Southpaws Rito Lugo of Advanced-A Wilmington and Angel Zerpa of Rookie-Advanced Burlington were named the Carolina League and Appalachian League Pitchers of the Week, respectively.
LHP Rito Lugo
Lugo earned his first career Pitcher of the Week award, working 12.1 scoreless innings across a pair of no-decisions for Wilmington last week. The 23-year-old yielded just six hits and two walks combined across the starts, while striking out 12 batters. The two starts are part of an active career-long 21.1-inning scoreless streak, dating back to July 26 and spanning three starts and one relief appearance. Lugo is 2–3 with a 2.31 ERA (20 ER in 78.0 IP) overall in 27 games (10 starts) for the Blue Rocks this year.
This is Lugo’s second season in the Royals organization, after signing as a non-drafted free agent on July 2, 2018.
LHP Angel Zerpa
Zerpa also took home his first career weekly award, after winning his lone start last week. The 19-year-old pitched the first 5.0 innings of Burlington’s 6–0 combined shutout win over Danville on August 9, allowing one hit and one walk while fanning a season-high nine batters. The nine strikeouts marked the second-highest single-outing total of his career, after a 10-strikeout showing on July 20, 2017 in the Dominican Summer League. Zerpa is 5–3 with a 4.14 ERA (19 ER in 41.1 IP) in nine appearances (eight starts) overall for Burlington this season, after making his first outing for Idaho Falls.
The Venezuela native is in his third professional season, after being signed as a non-drafted free agent on July 26, 2016.
