Months after the Phillies saw Ranger Suarez walk to free agency, the team did not let younger left-hander Jesus Luzardo do the same. The Phillies reportedly agreed to extend Luzardo to a five-year extension, taking the dynamic pitcher off the free agent board, as he could have gone to market a month before the pending lockout.
A Look at Luzardo
On a team filled with aces, Jesus Luzardo was able to stand out in his first season with the Phillies.
Luzardo struck out over 200 batters last season with the Phillies, a strong comeback for the lefty who missed significant time thanks to elbow and back problems the year before. However, it wasn’t the cleanest season.
Despite a ton of swing-and-miss — over 30% in 2025 — Luzardo also dealt with a big rough path in the summer and problems with runners in scoring position.
For one, almost half of Luzardo’s 50 walks (22) came with runners on. There were concerns with pitch tipping, which got Luzardo to throw more out of the windup at times. But things tightened up as the season went on. Overall, he struck out 94 over 79 innings and posted a sub-4.00 ERA in the second half.
As per usual, the middle of the plate was somewhere he wanted to stay away from. However, he did give up a fair amount of hits up and out of the zone, a circumstantial rough patch for the lefty.
Luzardo induced a fair amount of chase outside of the zone with his secondary stuff. His 36.5% Chase% off the slider ranked among the top 70 of the league among the 330 pitchers who threw that pitch at least 50 times out of the zone.
It’s been part of a massive change in how Luzardo has approached hitters over time. The left-hander leaned more on the fastball as a Marlin but dropped that usage ever so slightly as a Phillie. Three seasons ago, he used it over 41% of the time. But last year, the four-seamer was used 1/3 of the time.
That four-seamer was a good one when it was up in the zone, not only because of how it plays from the lower arm slot but also because Luzardo can work all quadrants of the zone. He’s got a slider, sinker, and changeup, all of which are good weapons to deal with both lefties and righties.
Per multiple reports, the Phillies gave Jesus Luzardo a five-year deal worth $135MM.
Analysis
Luzardo is currently 28 years of age, meaning that the contract will take him up through his age-34 season.
That’s not a bad thing whatsoever, as the deal does minimize risk given that it’s not an incredibly long commitment. But what it does do for Luzardo is provide an opportunity to get a nice amount of money now. And, test the market for another contract later on in his career.
It’s hard to argue with the deal on both sides. The Phillies are in win-now mode, plain and simple. Keeping Luzardo keeps the rotational depth strong alongside Cristopher Sanchez, as a lot can go wrong with young pitchers. Philadelphia has some potential high-upside arms, including Andrew Painter and Gage Wood. However, Luzardo is a proven asset.
The Phillies let Ranger Suarez, now 30 years of age, test the market. Luzardo could have tested the market at a younger age. But instead, he’ll stick with a team that he has thrived with thus far.
For Luzardo, the AAV lines up close with what Garrett Crochet ($28.3MM) and Max Fried ($27.2MM) got from their respective teams. Granted, Luzardo is a different kind of pitcher compared to those two. Nonetheless, he gets a lot of swing-and-miss and is the kind of pitcher who’s perfect for the new age of baseball.
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