Jesús Luzardo talks about trade to Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — Jesús Luzardo’s 2024 season in Miami ended after just 12 starts due to a stress reaction in his lower back.

But that issue is behind him, according to Luzardo.

“I feel 100 percent,” Luzardo said on a Zoom call with reporters Monday. “I’ve felt 100 percent the whole offseason. Yeah, last year definitely the back was the root issue and the problem. And now that we’ve got that all figured out, thankfully, everything is back to normal.”

The Phillies acquired Luzardo and Minor League catcher Paul McIntosh last week in a trade with Miami for prospects Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd. The Phils expect Luzardo to bolster a rotation that includes Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez. If everybody is healthy, it could be the best rotation in baseball.

And that’s before the potential midsummer arrival of Philly’s top pitching prospect Andrew Painter, who has spent the past few years working out at the same South Florida gym as Luzardo.

“I know Painter a good bit,” Luzardo said. “Growing up down here, there’s a tight knit baseball brotherhood. You know everyone. I heard his name a lot when he was young. … I’m looking forward to sharing a clubhouse with him this year. He’s a stud.”

Luzardo has All-Star-quality talent; he just needs to stay healthy. He missed two weeks early last season because of left elbow tightness, then he was scratched from his June 22 start because of a lumbar stress reaction. He didn’t pitch again.

“From what I understand, the stress reaction was just basically a vertebrae in the spine getting basically bothered by constant stress, constant rotation or the lack of rotation,” Luzardo said. “At one point it just basically gets really irritated and bothered. It bothered me with a lot of things, tying my shoes, bending over to brush my teeth to rotating on the mound. It definitely affected me in a lot of different ways. It was frustrating to try to maneuver that and still get out there and pitch every five days. It got to the point where I just couldn’t do it anymore.

“After the shutdown, I took time off. Every doctor I saw said the same thing. These things actually heal really well. Once it happens once it usually doesn’t happen again. It’s more of just letting it calm down, letting it heal itself. Once you do get back, you should be good to go.”

This is the third time Luzardo, 27, has been traded. The Nationals selected him in the third round of the 2016 Draft and a year later he was traded to the A’s in a package for relievers Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson. On July 28, 2021, he was acquired by the Marlins for Starling Marte.

This time, Luzardo learned about the trade to Philly before he stepped onto a friend’s boat to fish on Dec. 22.

“It was not what I expected on a Sunday morning,” Luzardo said. “It’s definitely different. The first time, I was a little kid basically. I was in Rookie ball at the time so I didn’t know much. The second time, I was caught a little more off guard, coming from the A’s to the Marlins. This time, I could kind of see the writing on the wall, but it’s always a change, a big change — your life kind of turned upside down. But definitely for a positive impact, I would say.

“I’m super excited. Being able to witness the Red October and being able to pitch in that environment, being on the opposing side — now [I’m] looking forward to being on the home side, obviously.”