Lucas Duda enters his first season as the assistant hitting coach at Lipscomb.
Playing in parts of 10 seasons in Major League Baseball, Duda played for four professional teams in Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and the New York Mets.
"The addition of Lucas Duda to our coaching staff is huge. His experience in baseball is such a blessing for our players. His character and family values match up exactly with what Lipscomb University is about. I couldn't be more excited to add him to our coaching staff and our Lipscomb baseball family," said head coach Jeff Forehand.
Drafted in the seventh round of the 2007 draft by the New York Mets from Southern California, Duda made his MLB debut in 2010. He played in 958 career games with a career. 782 on-base plus slugging percentage. In 2014, he played in 153 games, totaling 30 home runs and drove in 92 runs.
He was a part of two postseason teams, including the National League pennant with the Mets in 2015.
"I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity to join Coach Forehand and and his staff at Lipscomb University. It is a honor to work with these young men and I'm looking forward to working diligently to accomplish our goal of playing in Omaha," said Duda.
He played three seasons collegiately with USC. During his sophomore year in 2006, the Trojans made it to the Super Regionals as he hit .298 with 57 hits, 37 runs scored and 36 runs batted in.
Duda is married to his wife, Amy, and they have two daughters, Quinn and Sydney.
