Phillies' Jesús Luzardo rebounds after making changes to address potential tipping

New York Times

a day ago

PHILADELPHIA — Jesús Luzardo is a superstitious man, so he changed his hair this week for the third time in three starts. The cornrows, installed after a 12-run nightmare, disappeared following an eight-run outing. The makings of a mustache appeared on his face. 'For now,' Luzardo said. 'We'll see how long it lasts.' The lefty had another new thing: He stepped onto the Citizens Bank Park grass Wednesday afternoon with a bigger glove.
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Whenever a Chicago Cubs runner reached base, Luzardo unveiled a new delivery from the stretch. He held his glove higher and closer to the Phillies crest across his chest. He looked more attentive to every movement he made whenever a runner was on second base.
He hid the ball — and his pitch grip — better. He silenced Chicago's lineup, which averages the most runs per game in MLB, with 10 strikeouts and no walks over six innings. The lone run he allowed came after Nick Castellanos missed a catchable foul ball.
Luzardo looked more like the breakout pitcher from his first 11 starts with the Phillies and not like the one who surrendered an unfathomable 20 runs in his previous two starts.
'There's a lot of things that we tinkered with,' Luzardo said. 'The biggest thing was attention to detail.'
In the PitchCom era, teams no longer have to devote energy toward legal sign-stealing tactics. That means more attention on how opposing pitchers and catchers move. Most baseball people would argue every pitcher has a tell; it's a matter of how actionable it is. The sport is filled with paranoia because, as they say, baseball is like life. Rumors are rampant about teams using machine-learning artificial intelligence to analyze rival pitchers.
Often, tipping is a convenient excuse for a struggling pitcher. It's hard to know how much it affects a given performance. Some pitchers would rather not hear about it unless a coach or analyst has legitimate evidence. The Phillies wondered what happened in last October's National League Division Series when the New York Mets ravaged their productive bullpen. Some harbored conspiracy theories about pitchers tipping. The team wanted to rise above that in 2025.
Phillies pitching coaches have focused this season on more consistent movements on the mound. That is one way to remove tipping as a potential excuse.
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Luzardo was convinced last week, following his start in Toronto, that something was amiss. He scoured video and saw Blue Jays runners on second base leaning certain ways on specific pitches. He went down a rabbit hole. He likes numbers, and he noticed a massive anomaly.
He had allowed six hits over his first 11 starts whenever a runner was on second base. Opponents batted .143 (6-for-42) with a .167 slugging percentage in those situations. But, during his two disastrous outings, hitters were 9-for-10 (including two homers and a double) with a runner on second base.
It was too obvious to be a coincidence, Luzardo said.
As Luzardo did his research, Phillies coaches and analysts conducted theirs. Luzardo went to work with Mark Lowy, the club's 33-year-old assistant pitching coach. The Phillies weren't sure how much Luzardo was giving away, but it became clear that he was not helping matters by 'pre-gripping' the ball before stuffing it in his glove. A runner on second or a first-base coach could see it.
Luzardo and Lowy, along with pitching coach Caleb Cotham and bullpen coach Cesar Ramos, tinkered with different glove positions in the bullpen between starts. They settled on one. Luzardo carried it into Wednesday's game.
Carson Kelly and Justin Turner lashed consecutive singles to begin the second inning. Luzardo struck out the next three hitters — Nico Hoerner with a slider, Matt Shaw with a changeup and Vidal Bruján with a sweeping slider. He slapped his bigger glove with his left hand and looked to the sky.
By then, internet sleuths had pinpointed Luzardo's tweaks. Nothing like stress testing new mechanics in a big-league game.
Jesús Luzardo, Changeups (both with a runner on 2B)
Old hand position is in Red outline. pic.twitter.com/wvZLl6K4AS
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 11, 2025
Maybe it didn't make a huge difference. But Luzardo was armed with the confidence that he had solved something. That can be empowering.
'Maybe a little bit,' Phillies manager Rob Thomson said, 'but I think it's more about execution than anything else.'
The manager has a point. Those runners in the previous two starts had to reach second base somehow, so it wasn't all down to this specific tell. Even if he was tipping, there was something unsustainable about how the previous two outings went: Opponents had 22 hits on 30 balls in play against Luzardo. That is an absurd rate.
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'We all just knew it was a matter of time,' Kyle Schwarber said after a 7-2 Phillies win. 'I think it was kind of just a two-blip thing, right? Don't get me wrong, there's always going to be bumps throughout the course of the season. I feel like he handles it well. He studies himself, and he wants to address what he's doing wrong. That's the impressive thing about him. It was just a matter of time for him.'
This win carried added importance; the Phillies clinched the season series against the Cubs. That could factor into a potential postseason tiebreaker — or determine home-field advantage in a series. Luzardo was one of the biggest reasons the Phillies captured the season series. He allowed one earned run in 12 innings over two starts against Chicago.
'It's three plus pitches,' Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. 'It's a really good fastball, a good changeup, and a good breaking ball. I mean, he did have two rough starts. That's a good pitcher.'
Since the offseason trade with Miami, these initial months with Luzardo have been a learning process for everyone involved. The Phillies had high hopes for Luzardo. They are learning the 27-year-old pitcher can be pushed. He wants to be pushed. He might even need it.
If he needed a 20-run horror to teach him this lesson, so be it. 'He's a really nice guy off the field,' Thomson said. 'When he gets on that hill, he's a bear. He really is.' Luzardo has emerged as someone who fits well on a team with the highest aspirations.
He'll keep growing that mustache after six strong innings erased the agony.
'I don't think anyone else on the planet wanted it more than I did,' Luzardo said. 'It's a relief.'
— The Athletic's Sahadev Sharma contributed to this report.