Jesus Luzardo spent the early part of the season looking like a pitcher whose numbers didn’t match the arm. The Phillies’ left-hander stumbled out of the gate, but he has since pushed himself into the conversation with the game’s best starters - and ESPN’s Jeff Passan has now put that into writing.
Passan ranked Luzardo 31st among all MLB players and said the Phillies southpaw belongs with Cristopher Sanchez and Zack Wheeler as one of the team’s “undeniable aces.”
"31. Jesus Luzardo, SP, Philadelphia Phillies. ...
Sanchez and Wheeler are undeniable aces. Luzardo belongs in that conversation with them," Passan writes.
"... Everything is there for him to be one of the best pitchers in baseball."
That kind of national recognition has been a while coming. Luzardo was traded to Philadelphia during the 2024-2025 offseason, then signed to a five-year, $135 million extension this past offseason.
The Phillies clearly saw the ceiling. The rest of the league is starting to catch up.
His first eight starts this season were rough: a 5.77 ERA, though the 2.92 FIP hinted at better days ahead. Since then, he has been a different pitcher entirely. Over his next 16 starts, Luzardo has thrown exactly 100 innings with a 2.25 ERA and 119 strikeouts.
If that pace held over a full season, he’d be right in the middle of the Cy Young race, and maybe leading it.
Even with that surge, Luzardo’s overall line hasn’t jumped off the page the way Wheeler’s or Sanchez’s has. He sits at a 3.32 ERA with a 10-5 record and 4.4 bWAR, solid production but not the kind of headline-grabbing run that tends to force leaguewide attention.
Sanchez’s 50 2/3-inning scoreless streak and Wheeler’s dominance after returning from thoracic outlet syndrome made them impossible to miss. Luzardo, meanwhile, kept dealing in the background.
Now, with Passan’s praise and a top-31 spot in the ESPN ranking, Luzardo is finally getting the national respect his recent stretch has earned.
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