“You will never be able to hit at the college level.”

Those were the words of a college coach that still fuels Robert Lucido, Jr. every day in his quest to become a major league baseball player.

Lucido first came to the Baseball Factory in 2003 for one hour youth lessons, working with Dan Mooney, Baseball Factory’s Senior Director of College Recruiting.

“Robert has been with the Baseball Factory since about 6th or 7th grade,” Mooney explains. “He’s done lessons, Team One events and the Arizona Senior Fall Classic to name a few. His desire and work ethic has never wavered since the day I met him.”

Lucido’s talent and dedication turned into an Under Armour Pre-Season All-American nod in 2010. Even still, Robert took the time to hone his skills further, participating in Baseball Factory’s Premium Video Program in Trenton, NJ as well. The skill set and determination to be the best has always been in Lucido, even when others mistakenly thought that it wasn’t.

Playing for St. Paul’s School in Brooklandville, MD, Lucido, a native of Woodstock, MD, he was teammates for three seasons with LaMonte Wade, who went on to play for the University of Maryland and was drafted in the ninth round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins.

Teammate John Kuchno, described by Lucido as a “beast“, stopped playing baseball because he wanted to attend Wake Forest University, trying to walk on to play both baseball and basketball. He ultimately jumped back into the sport and became one of Ohio State University’s best pitchers. Kuchno parlayed that into a draft selection by the Pittsburgh Pirates and received his first shot at pitching in a big league camp this past spring.

Lucido earned a 3.5 GPA in high school and put Division I schools like Richmond, Appalachian State, Duke and Harvard on his radar. As if he didn’t need any more motivation playing with teammates like Wade and Kuchno made going to college at a big time school and being drafted seem inevitable, only it didn’t happen that way.

He attended a camp at Harvard and did well with his opportunity. The same thing happened at a camp with Duke. However, according to Lucido, it “always came down to me and another player, and they always took that player.”

Then came the letter from Georgetown University.

“They told me I was too small to play there,” Lucido said. The University of Richmond told Robert that they wouldn’t keep any catchers under six feet tall.

Another setback.

“I’m not sure there is any way to describe the adversity he’s faced along the way,” says Mooney. “He truly feeds off coaches, players, fans or anyone that will line up to say he can’t accomplish something. Just when I thought he couldn’t work any harder, he surprises me with another level. He won’t stop until someone rips the jersey off his back.”

Lucido finally received a shot at Amherst, but realized the odds were probably still stacked against him.

If playing baseball didn’t work out, Robert wanted to learn the inner workings of a major league front office, so before college, he interned for former general manager of the Baltimore Orioles, Andy MacPhail and then later for current Orioles GM Dan Duquette while in college. It was a good school to learn at; Amherst has three alums who are major league GM’s.

On the field, Lucido began his college career as the back-up catcher behind a senior, all-conference, captain catcher and received just 12 at-bats.

His sophomore season gave him hope of starting, but he found himself behind two freshman catchers and received less at-bats. Injuries gave him a chance to play in a doubleheader later that season, playing well against East Connecticut State. But, again, Lucido dealt with adversity, being told he would be playing more, only to find himself on the sideline watching younger players continue to receive the bulk of play time. When Amherst made the postseason, Robert was cut from the roster, opting to keep a walk-on player instead.

Off the field, Robert had more important issues to concern himself with.

His Mom had been bedridden after a big operation for cancer going into his junior season. On the field, he was even more focused on getting the play time he deserved, throwing out nine more runners and having the most hits out of the catchers on the team during the pre-season. Again, Lucido found himself as the backup, playing in just one game before leaving the team.

He could have decided to hang it up right then and there; after all the setbacks, one could understand why he would want to walk away from it all. Instead, Robert continued to work, playing in the Ripken Summer League, becoming an all-star and leading in offensive categories, all the while doing it against top Division I pitching.

“Playing in the league allowed me to get looks from pro teams, as I was able to show I could handle things offensively and defensively,” Lucido remembers.

Despite not playing for the team during his senior season, Lucido treated things like it was his last opportunity ever. He trained on his own, waking up at 5 a.m. to use the same seven water-logged, ripped-up baseballs to throw into a net and to empty bases. He was told by friends that were still on the team that they were instructed not to practice with Lucido.

“Believe me it wasn’t easy getting up at five each morning working as hard as I could when I didn’t even know if I would ever get a chance to ever play again,” says Lucido. He worked on his hitting and his conditioning, using the facilities to train at all crazy hours of the night because that was the only time he could. 

Once a month, Robert would travel from Massachusetts to Maryland to train and throw with someone. Then, in October of 2014, Robert received a call from the Kansas City Royals to go through a workout for them.

Another workout, another job well done as the Royals wanted to send him to the Dominican Republic for a camp. As he got ready for his opportunity, adversity struck again. The team could not sign him because, despite not playing for Amherst in a year, was still considered an NCAA athlete because of eligibility rules.

“The NCAA allowed me to sign after I had gotten my release, but the Commissioner’s Office of MLB told me MLB rules prohibited me from signing,” Lucido said.

What’s a little more fuel to the fire?

Perhaps the most important part here is the fact Lucido graduated from Amherst, and once done, came back to Maryland to begin intense training at Baseball Factory, again waiting for the opportunity he had long wanted. Lucido added 10 pounds to his frame as well as increased speed and prepared himself for another workout, receiving calls from both the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays.

“I worked out on a Thursday with the Blue Jays, did well there, and the scout was honest with me afterward telling me that he would suggest me to the scouting director but couldn’t promise anything, but that they could likely get me as a free agent,” Lucido said.

The 2015 MLB Draft took place over the course of three days last week, and for Lucido it was a normal week, trying to temper excitement and expectations. On Tuesday of the Draft, he hit and threw like a normal day, every so often, checking the draft tracker to see what round it was and who had been selected.

“I worked out and then came home and watched an episode of The Wire,” says Lucido. “I think about three minutes later, I got a phone call but missed it, then a whole bunch of texts started coming into my phone. As I’m checking that, I received another call from a retired front office executive that told me the Blue Jays had drafted me.”

The Toronto Blue Jays selected Lucido in the 40th round, No. 1202 overall. Seeing it was believing it, and the experience was an amazing one after all the heartbreaks and different coaches telling him he wasn’t good enough. When hit with the news, Robert didn’t exactly know what he should have been doing.

“I was overwhelmed. I didn’t know what to do. I just walked outside and started tearing up,” says Lucido.

It’s the way Robert has carried himself through everything he has ever faced that garners the most respect from everyone that has been part of his journey.

“I’ve been around baseball my entire life,” says Mooney. “It’s really the only thing I’ve ever known. I can honestly say out of all the teammates I’ve played with and players I’ve coached, he’s the hardest worker I’ve come across. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Robert and couldn’t be more happy or proud of him. Above and beyond his baseball ability, he’s just as good a person and young man. He’s done it right.“