Phillies newly-acquired starter Jesús Luzardo chatted with the Philadelphia beat over Zoom on Monday. The southpaw completed the 2024 season on the injured listing however indicated he’s going into subsequent season at full power.
“I really feel 100%. I’ve felt 100% the entire offseason,” Luzardo mentioned. “Final yr, the again was actually the issue. Now that we’ve received that every one found out, fortunately every thing’s again to regular.” He added that he has had a typical offseason, so it appears honest to imagine he’ll be a full go for Spring Coaching. A lumbar stress response despatched Luzardo to the 15-day IL within the second half of June. It didn’t take lengthy earlier than Miami transferred him to the 60-day injured listing. The Marlins shut him down for good in early August.
Luzardo’s last season with the Marlins was a disappointment. The 27-year-old lefty struggled to a good 5.00 earned run common over 12 begins. He struck out a barely below-average 21.2% of batters confronted. Luzardo missed a pair weeks early within the yr with elbow tightness, however the again proved rather more problematic.
A completely wholesome model of Luzardo is a #2 or #3 caliber starter. He confirmed that upside in 2023. Luzardo turned in a 3.58 ERA whereas placing out 28.1% of opponents throughout 178 2/3 innings. Luzardo averaged almost 97 MPH on his heater and missed loads of bats with each his slider and changeup. His 14.1% general swinging strike price ranked sixth amongst certified beginning pitchers.
Philadelphia despatched highly-regarded shortstop prospect Starlyn Caba to Miami because the headliner of the Luzardo commerce. A return to his ’23 type would arguably give Philadelphia one of the best entrance 5 in MLB. He’ll slot behind Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola and alongside Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez in Rob Thomson’s employees. The depth isn’t nice, although the Phils have added Joe Ross on a $4MM free agent deal to hitch Taijuan Walker as candidates for swing roles.
Pitching prospect Andrew Painter might ultimately be an element, however that received’t occur inside the season’s first month or two. Philadelphia is being very cautious with the touted 21-year-old righty, whom they’ve seemingly stored untouchable in commerce talks. Painter is working again from July 2023 Tommy John surgical procedure. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski informed reporters (together with Matt Gelb of the Athletic) final week that the Phils received’t have Painter pitch in video games throughout Spring Coaching. He’ll proceed throwing on the aspect within the spring and can subsequently have to construct into recreation form within the minors.
Painter made six appearances and tallied 15 2/3 innings in final yr’s Arizona Fall League. That’s his solely recreation motion because the conclusion of the 2022 season. The Phillies might want to hold an in depth watch on his workload and definitely envision Painter as a think about a possible pennant race. It’s comprehensible they’d desire to start out him slowly and focus on saving his bullets for what they hope can be one other playoff push. That’s very true now that Luzardo is within the fold, permitting them to open the season with each Ross and Walker within the ’pen if their high 5 arms are wholesome.
