In an offseason lamented by many, Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski only made one major swing. The team traded prized shortstop prospect Starlyn Caba and outfielder Emaarion Boyd to the Miami Marlins for lefty starter Jesús Luzardo, looking to buy low on one of the most talented southpaws in baseball after an injury-plagued and ineffective 2024 campaign.
Dombrowski and co. made a bet on Luzardo bouncing back, and instead of regaining his strong form from 2023, he has done something greater: the 27-year-old looks better than he ever has before.
Luzardo has been an absolutely dominant force on the mound for the Phillies, one of the key reasons the team has been able to sustain an elite starting rotation despite Ranger Suárez missing the first month-plus of the season and Aaron Nola's struggles before going on the injured list.
Ahead of Luzardo's start on Sunday afternoon in the Phillies' series finale against the Athletics in Sacramento, these are the numbers that best illustrate his success in 2025…
8-2
The Phillies' record when Luzardo starts.
When you have a 1.95 ERA and 1.15 WHIP across your first 10 starts of the season, odds are your team is going to win most of the times you are on the mound. Luzardo has an undefeated 5-0 record to his name, and the Phillies have won in eight of his 10 starts entering Sunday's game.
Ironically, though, both of the Phillies' losses with Luzardo on the mound came despite particularly strong outings from the left-hander:
• April 10 @ Atlanta Braves: 6.0 innings, six hits, one earned run in a 4-2 loss (11 innings)
• April 20 vs. Miami Marlins: 7.0 innings, eight hits, one earned run in a 7-5 loss (10 innings)
Across Luzardo's 10 starts, four have been games ultimately decided by a one-run difference, while three of them have been two-run games. Even with mostly good run support, he has not exactly been able to throw stress-free pitches whenever he pleases.
MORE: Winners, losers of Phillies' four-game sweep @ Rockies
2
The number of home runs allowed by Luzardo in 2025.
One of the only issues for the Phillies' stellar starting rotation has been a tendency to allow homers, but Luzardo has had no such problems. Only two of the 242 batters to face him this year have gone yard. Luzardo has allowed 0.30 home runs per nine innings. Entering the weekend, that had him knotted up with Rangers starter Tyler Mahle for the best mark in the majors.
Luzardo's average exit velocity allowed numbers are in the middle of the pack, but he has done a really good job when it comes to avoiding barrels. This, of course, is aided by not just how hard he throws, but how good his command has been all season. He is rarely missing spots or leaving hangers up.
1
The number of times Luzardo has allowed more than two earned runs in any start in 2025.
Perhaps this is the best way to illustrate how incredibly consistent Luzardo has been. This was his worst start all year:
• April 15 vs. San Francisco Giants: 5.1 innings pitched, five hits, three earned runs, two walks, four strikeouts
That start is the only time all year Luzardo has allowed at least three earned runs, a pretty remarkable feat in itself. This has long been one of the most valuable aspects of Zack Wheeler's dominance: Wheeler typically has one or two annual blow-up starts, and it feels genuinely stunning when it happens.
At this point, whenever Luzardo does finally have a noticeably bad start, it will be accompanied by a similar sense of confusion. That is how consistent he has been to date.
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.193/.207/.246
The collective slash line of left-handed hitters vs. Luzardo in 2025 (58 total batters).
Luzardo has been unfathomably effective against left-handed hitters this season. In fact, there could be an entirely separate version of this story only dissecting Luzardo's ridiculous numbers against them. It is not that Luzardo has not also been able to handle righties, who are slashing just .244/.315/.329 against him. But he has just been so comically good against left-handed bats that the numbers are almost breathtaking.
Of the 58 lefties that have stepped into the box against Luzardo, 27 have struck out. Only one has walked. Those hitters are a combined 11-57; eight of those hits are singles and three are doubles.
The Colorado Rockies stacked their lineup with eight right-handed bats and a switch-hitter against Luzardo on Monday. It did not matter, as he notched 10 strikeouts while allowing only one run and two hits across six innings of work. But it is safe to assume opposing managers will be thoughtful about which lefties they write on lineup cards against Luzardo moving forward.
6.0
Luzardo's average innings per start in 2025.
Given his extensive injury history, shortened season last year and the reliable presences in the rotation around him, it would have made complete sense if the Phillies felt they needed to monitor Luzardo's workload quite a bit early in the season as they gear up for the stretch run. It would also be easier to digest Luzardo's per-inning dominance if he was not focused on pitching deep into games.
And yet, in an era filled with starters of his ilk having their outings shortened, Luzardo is routinely going deep into games for the Phillies. There has only been one start out of 10 in which Luzardo has not been on the mound to begin the sixth inning — his team debut on March 29. Since then, he has pitched more than 5.0 innings in every single outing.
Will that continue on Sunday afternoon against his former team?
MORE: Luzardo trade shows value of a Plan B
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