Cory Robert Luebke (born March 4, 1985 in Maria Stein, Ohio) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He attended the Marion Local High School and The Ohio State University. He was pick number 63 in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft.
Professional career[]
San Diego Padres[]
Luebke spent his first professional season, 2007 at three different levels of the Padres' organization. He started with the Short-Season Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League. He went 3-0 with 26 strikeouts and a 1.46 ERA in eight games, three starts. He was soon promoted to the Class-A Fort Wayne Wizards of the Midwest League, where he went 1-2 with 30 strikeouts and a 3.33 ERA in five games, all starts. He was then promoted again to the Class-A Advanced Lake Elsinore Storm of the California League, where he went 1-1 with five strikeouts and a 7.71 ERA in two games, one start. Luebke went a combined 5-3 with 61 strikeouts and a 3.07 ERA in 58 innings pitched. Cory Luebke on the mound for the Class-A Fort Wayne Wizards in 2009. In 2008 Luebke started the season with the Class-A Advanced Lake Elsinore Storm, but was later sent down to the Class-A Fort Wayne Wizards. With Lake Elsinore he went 3-6 with a 6.84 ERA in 17 games, 15 starts. During his time with Fort Wayne, Luebke went 3-3 with 40 strikeouts and a 2.89 ERA in 10 games, all starts. Luebke went a combined 6-9 with 100 strikeouts with a 5.12 ERA in 128 innings pitched.
He split the 2009 season with the Class-A Advanced Lake Elsinore Storm and the Double-A San Antonio Missions. He began the season with Lake Elsinore for the second consecutive season. He went 8-2 with 80 strikeouts and a 2.34 ERA in 14 games, all starts. He was then promoted to the Missions where he went 3-2 with a 3.70 ERA in nine games, all starts. Luebke went a combined 11-4 with 112 strikeouts and a 2.78 ERA in 129 innings pitched. Luebke attributed his success in '09 to working out kinks in his delivery. He was named the number 12 prospect in the by Baseball America. Luebke pitched for Team USA in the 2009 Baseball World Cup. He threw a near perfect game against Team Canada. He started the championship game, striking out seven and pitching 4 innings.
On Sunday, July 11, 2010; Luebke was promoted to the Triple-A Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. While with the San Antonio Missions, Luebke went 5-1 with a 2.40 ERA and a WHIP of 0.94. He was promoted to the Padres on September 1, 2010 and made his first major league start on September 3, where he got his first loss, pitching 5 innings and giving up four runs. He earned his first career win in his next start, throwing 6 innings and only giving up 2 hits and 1 walk.
In June 2011, Luebke was promoted to the Padres starting rotation.
Pittsburgh Pirates[]
On March 31, 2016, Pittsburgh announced Luebke would be on the Pirates' Opening Day roster.
Luebke retired from baseball on May 8, 2017.