Last year the Yankees drafted Zack Greinke’s brother out of Auburn. His name is Luke Greinke. He’s a right-hander who pitched for Staten Island in A-ball last season.
But Luke’s 2009 couldn’t be any more different than Zack’s.
Zack has emerged as one of baseball’s best pitchers. The Royals right-hander appeared in Tuesday’s All-Star Game and opened the second half leading AL starters in ERA (2.12).
Luke, however, mainly has seen disaster since joining the Yankees. After pitching nine games for Staten Island last year, he underwent surgery in September for a torn labrum and was released in spring training.
To be fair, Luke was far from the prospect Zack was. Zack was the sixth overall pick in the 2002 first round; Luke was the 28th pick in the 2008 12th round.
Luke, 23, said he will return only if he feels like he’s healthy enough to really progress.
“I want to come back, but I only want to come back if I feel I can move up the system,” he told the Post this week.
Last year with Staten Island, Luke was 0-6 with a 4.01 ERA, striking out 26 in 332⁄3 innings.
“I actually started off real well,” he said, “and then my arm started giving me trouble.”
In September he had surgery, then his rehab hit a snag.
“I was rehabbing for a while, and it started to look like it was really coming along real good,” he said. “Next thing you know, I was throwing a bullpen, it just didn’t feel right. It set me back, and it’s done that twice since then. To be honest with you, this year’s not looking good.”
Luke was released a few weeks after reporting to Tampa this past spring. It seemed odd the Yankees would release him without at least seeing how he pitches when he comes back from rehab. But senior vice president of baseball operations Mark Newman said Luke’s release came down to “space and commensurate opportunity.”
“We project rosters down the road, a year or two. We didn’t think he would have a spot,” Newman said. “In order to rehab, you’ve got to be able to get innings to rehab. We didn’t feel that we could do that.”
Luke lives in Orlando, Fla., and rehabs at a local sports complex. He is not throwing but might see where he is baseball-wise in a couple months, then hopefully come back next year. In the interim, besides rehabbing, Luke’s considering taking some community college classes and starting part-time work giving baseball lessons or working on a golf course or in a Bass Pro Shop.
“I guess you could say that,” Luke said of being on a baseball break. “I don’t want to be, but my arm says I need to take a break.”
“He’s a competitive guy,” said Luke’s agent, Miles Shoda. “He’s really wired to compete and play the game, and I just hope that for his sake he gets a chance to do that again because . . . he’s got a feel for the game.”
Luke said his brother’s success has not made it harder for him to endure these trying times.
“I’m real happy how he’s doing, how good he’s gotten in the game,” Luke said. “There’s nothing I can do. Just injuries have been a problem and hopefully I can get over ’em. But I couldn’t be happier for him.”