RADIO
Jesus Luzardo 2020 Outlook: High Ceiling with Injury Risk
5 years agoThe Oakland A’s organization had to wait longer than expected for Jesus Luzardo to impact the big league club in 2019. A nasty shoulder injury held him out of action until June. He then made 11 appearances before receiving his much-anticipated promotion to the Majors in September. The club was understandably cautious with him and he threw just 12 innings out of the bullpen but was dominant. He allowed just five hits while striking out 16. The A’s rotation will enter 2020 with a lot of question marks, which is great news for Luzardo owners. The young southpaw offers good control and three pitches that are expected to grade out as plus in his prime, although the breaking ball needs the most work to get there. He also induces a ton of ground-ball outs which should help him keep the ball in the park — a valuable skill in this homer-happy era. Invest in Luzardo knowing that the shoulder injury he suffered in 2019 was very serious and he’s never thrown more than 109.1 innings in his career. And he topped out at well under that mark in 2019 so it would be surprising to see him throw much more than 120-140 innings.
