Lucchesi hopes visit to development facility helps with bounceback

New Mets lefthander Joey Lucchesi pronounces his last name Loo-KAY-See, but he understands if you mess it up.

“I’ve heard Loo-cheesy, Loo-chessy,” he said. “But I’m used to that, so it’s all good.”

If he pitches the way he thinks he can, plenty of people will remember the name. He spent a portion of his offseason at Driveline — a data-driven player development facility outside Seattle, increasingly popular among pitchers in recent years — to smooth his delivery.

Lucchesi, 27, came to the Mets from the Padres in January as part of a three-team trade involving the Pirates, having been deemed expendable by a San Diego club that added a couple of other teams’ aces (Yu Darvish, Blake Snell) this offseason.

May, day one: A benefit of reliever Trevor May’s preexisting relationship with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, according to May, is that during his first bullpen session of spring training, Hefner helped May pretend he was facing Braves star Freddie Freeman.

Hefner worked for May’s previous team, the Twins, from 2017-19.

“I like to [simulate] some hitters at the end of my [bullpen sessions], especially in spring,” May said. “Obviously, I’m picking the big guys from our division out of the gate because they’re guys I haven’t faced much.”

Syndergaard sidelined, officially: The Mets put Noah Syndergaard (Tommy John surgery last March) on the 60-day injured list. He can’t return until late May at the earliest; the Mets have said they expect him to pitch again in June.