{Bally Sports Miami via Twitter}
By: Matt Rothman
It seemed like 2021 would be the year that former Marjory Stoneman Douglas pitcher Jesus Luzardo would establish himself as one of the most dominant arms in the league.
He graduated in 2016, after winning 23 games for the MSD baseball team, and was selected in the third round of the MLB Draft by the Washington Nationals. In 2019, he was later traded to the Oakland Athletics, making his MLB debut.
In 2020, he tested positive for COVID:19 and would go through it all while playing for a pair of different MLB teams the following year. The downward spiral began on May 1 when Luzardo was placed on the injured list with a broken finger. He returned to the Oakland Athletics on May 30 and was sent to the bullpen.
Nearly three weeks later, Luzardo was optioned to the minor leagues before being traded to the Miami Marlins for Starling Marte a week later.
It ended with Luzardo having his best start of the season in the Marlins’ second to last game. Luzardo struck out a career-high 11 hitters in 5 1/3 innings to pick up his sixth win in Miami’s 3-1 victory.
“He’s got good stuff,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “His fastball seems to get on hitters pretty good and plays up. His curveball, even though it doesn’t have a lot of depth, seems to be deceptive. I saw him pitch a couple of years ago when he was with Oakland, and I was pretty impressed.”
Luzardo will likely head into the 2022 season as a part of a strong rotation that consists of Sandy Alcantara, Elieser Hernandez, and Trevor Rogers.
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