Oakland Athletics: What to expect from top prospect Jesus Luzardo?
By Justin Fried
The Oakland Athletics have reportedly recalled top pitching prospect Jesus Luzardo. What could we expect to see from the A’s top prospect?
Oakland Athletics top prospect Jesus Luzardo has at long last received the call to the bigs and is set to make his MLB debut within the coming days.
MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos reported on Sunday that the Athletics were planning to recall their No. 1 prospect ahead of the team’s season series against the AL West-leading Houston Astros. For the A’s this will be a crucial September matchup as they look to continue their playoff push.
While the division is likely out of reach, the A’s hold a 1.5-game lead on the Cleveland Indians for the second wild-card spot, at the time of writing. And they’re going to need all hands on deck to at least split the four-game series with Houston.
Luzardo has been one of the most hyped prospects in not only the A’s system but the MLB for quite some time now. The 21-year-old prodigy entered the season as the A’s No. 1 prospect and the No. 18 prospect in all of baseball by MLB.com.
In fact, he has been ranked as high as No. 9 in the league by Baseball America. And we likely would have seen Luzardo in the bigs sooner had it not been for some midseason injury trouble.
The former third-round pick has dealt with both a shoulder strain and a lat strain for the majority of the season. As a result, he’s only been able to log a combined 43 innings in the minors in 2019.
That said, his numbers down in the minors look very impressive.
More from Oakland Athletics
- Oakland Athletics win Game 2 of Wild Card round with late-inning drama
- Oakland Athletics end perfect game, still lose Game 1 of Wild Card round
- Oakland Athletics: Jesus Luzardo will start Game 1 of Wild Card round
- Oakland Athletics clinch first AL West title since 2013
- Oakland Athletics: Can Jamb Lamb save the restructured infield?
In seven starts with Triple-A Las Vagas, Luzardo has posted a 3.19 ERA with 57 strikeouts in 31.0 innings. And that’s been done in the notoriously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League where ERAs are regularly in the 4.00’s and 5.00’s.
Granted it isn’t a huge sample size, but it’s enough of an indicator to insist that he’s ready for the big leagues.
Luzardo is a hard-throwing lefty whose fastball can hit speeds of up to 97 or 98 mph. He has also been praised for his curveball which MLB.com said, “has improved and is at least above-average, a pitch he adds to and subtracts from at will.”
But perhaps his best pitch is his changeup which graded out with a 60 on a 20-80 scale — the highest among prospects in the A’s system.
More from Golden Gate Sports
- Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
- 49ers sign new long snapper amidst a flurry of roster moves
- Oakland Athletics win Game 2 of Wild Card round with late-inning drama
- 49ers: George Kittle and Deebo Samuel cleared to return to practice
- 49ers expected to place DE Dee Ford on injured reserve
It’s unclear exactly what role Luzardo will play with the team down the stretch but he should give the A’s flexibility as both a reliever and as a starter. And given the patchwork, yet effective rotation that the A’s have been working with, that’s certainly good news.
Oakland has indicated that Luzardo will not be ready to pitch until Wednesday and that he doesn’t have a scheduled start planned. And with the A’s in the thick of an intense wild-card race, there’s a very good possibility that he’s used exclusively out of the bullpen.
But that’s just fine as Luzardo is a part of the future, not so much the present. And if the Athletics were to make the playoffs and play in some postseason games, Luzardo wouldn’t be a part of their run.
What’s more important is that Luzardo will hopefully be a centerpiece of the Oakland Athletics starting rotation for years to come in the future.
Next. Oakland Athletics: Sean Manaea is back and he’s just as good as ever. dark
And we should get a glimpse of that future this September.