Believe the hype

BY MARTIN GALLEGOS

Rewind one year to a seemingly meaningless Cactus League matchup between the A’s and Angels in Tempe. Except on this day Oakland decides to send young pitching prospect Jesús Luzardo out with the big league squad, and the Angels opt to counter with their regular starting lineup, complete with a guy named Mike Trout.

Facing the two-time MVP is a daunting task for any major league pitcher. Luzardo comes in as a 20-year-old kid with 12 career minor league games, nothing above low-A ball, under his belt.

But there is no fear on the kid’s face.

There’s a phrase multiplatinum hip-hop recording artist Kodak Black has popularized: “Ain’t no cowards in Broward.” It’s a reference to Broward County, Florida, where both Black and Luzardo grew up — and perhaps that’s the energy the young lefty is channeling in this moment.

Already having been retired by Luzardo on a groundout in the first, Trout digs in to face him in the third. Luzardo challenges him with a firstpitch strike. The two battle, with Trout working the at-bat to a 2-2 count.

Trout steps out of the box, removes his red Angels helmet and wipes the sweat off his forehead. He digs back in, gets into his stance, and Luzardo delivers a nasty curveball.

Swing and a miss.

The Jesús Luzardo hype had begun.

You couldn’t blame Luzardo if he were to cartwheel off the mound in that moment. Maybe at least a fist pump.

All he did after striking out baseball’s best player was quietly walk off the mound like he’d been there before.

Trout gave the kid a quick look before putting his head down and shaking it as he walked back to the Angels dugout.

“Honestly, I kind of left (that curveball) up,” Luzardo said. “I can’t complain. Striking out a guy like that, you can’t help but smile.”

Trout had only struck out once in all his Cactus League games prior to that. He ended up striking out four times that entire spring.

This was the day the A’s truly found out what they had in Luzardo. They knew they were getting a very good prospect when they acquired him in a trade with the Nationals back in 2017. But this was when they knew the hype was real.

“We ran him out there against a formidable lineup that day and did it on purpose,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “When he’s on the mound, there’s some presence to him that you don’t typically see from a younger guy.”

Oakland hasn’t had a pitching prospect with this much hype since the Zito-Hudson-Mulder days. He’s only 21 but carries a quiet confidence about him rarely seen in such a young pitcher.

He knew he was good back when he was 9, striking out 11and 12-year-olds. He knew he was good enough to overcome Tommy John surgery as a teenager. He knew he was good enough to strike out Mike Trout despite never having pitched above low-A ball.

Now he’s ready to live up to that hype and give Oakland something they’ve been craving for almost two decades: a true ace.

Luzardo has a certain confidence about him that clearly predates any faceoffs with a superstar like Trout.

Luzardo gained that confidence not too long after he was a 3-yearold in diapers. He could barely walk when he was already picking up a plastic bat and ball his father, Jesús Luzardo Sr., bought for him as a kid in Parkland, Florida.

Soon he was in travel ball dominating some of the best 11- and 12-year-old hitters South Florida had to offer — as a 9-year-old.

“He has always been like that,” Luzardo Sr. said. “When he gets on that mound, that confidence just flushes out of him. He’s a different guy when he’s on the field. Very competitive.”

That competitiveness was not limited to just baseball. He was somewhat of a child sports prodigy — playing football, basketball, soccer, golf, tennis. He even tried his hand at diving and horseback riding.

But baseball was his true love.

Luzardo decided to focus solely on baseball just before he entered high school. Making the Stoneman Douglas High varsity baseball team as a freshman brought him one step closer to his dream of playing college baseball.

There was only one potential issue: with Luzardo’s stature he was lucky to get onto roller coasters, let alone onto an MLB fast track.

“He was a little midget,” Luzardo Sr. laughed.

Luzardo still carries his original Florida driver’s license, which lists him at his age 16 height of 5-foot-6. He can do so with a smile knowing that he hit his growth spurt just in the nick of time.

He grew about six inches from his junior to senior year — that growth bringing more muscle and velocity on his fastball.

Instead of the usual 88-89 mph he was throwing into his junior year, Luzardo came into workouts his senior season touching 96 on the radar gun.

He had made it this far by getting batters out more with his command and by keeping hitters off balance with off-speed stuff. Add a blazing fastball to his repertoire, and Luzardo was now a very dangerous man.

He went into that senior year with some serious stuff, unlike anything his high school coach Todd Fitzgerald had ever witnessed.

One of those games where Fitzgerald recalled Luzardo showing his brilliance came against yearly Florida powerhouse Boca Raton High. Playing on a bigger stage at Florida Atlantic University’s baseball stadium, Luzardo thrived under the bright lights in what was his second start that year.

He threw a complete-game, three-hit shutout, racking up 11 strikeouts — the type of performance that put scouts all around the country on notice.

“Jesús was absolutely electric that night, almost unhittable,” Fitzgerald said. “We won the game big, but his pitching dominance that night was something you don’t see very often.”

Luzardo’s mailbox was stuffed with scholarship offers — from baseball powerhouses Vanderbilt, University of North Carolina— even his dream school, University of Miami, came offering. There was also the option of skipping college and going pro.

But that all came to a screeching halt just two starts later.

On the mound facing rival Coral Spring High in March 2016, Luzardo felt his left elbow pop after throwing a pitch. The elbow then started to burn and eventually swell up.

After a trip to the doctor for an MRI, results revealed a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Luzardo then heard the three words aspiring pitching stars fear the most: Tommy John surgery.

“He felt that his career might be shortened,” Luzardo Sr. said. “But I think because of his maturity level, he put that in the past very quickly. He got frustrated for about a couple of weeks, but the day after surgery he was immediately focused on his rehab and getting back on the mound.”

WIth the support of his parents, Jesús Sr. and Monica, Luzardo meticulously followed the rehab program and became obsessed with it. And though he only pitched four games that year while Douglas still managed to capture a state championship, Luzardo was nonetheless drafted by the Washington Nationals in the third round of the draft later that summer.

Now came decision time.

Although he was injured, Luzardo still had a scholarship offer on the table from the University of Miami, which he was ready to commit to.

Luzardo’s parents had instilled in him from an early age that school came first.

So he struck a deal with them: Take the pro baseball path and enroll in online classes at the University of Florida. He’s still enrolled in classes now that he’s with the A’s, and expects to earn his degree in the next five years or so. His major league debut? That will come much sooner — perhaps some time at the beginning of the regular season.

Luzardo blazed his way through the minor leagues in his first full year in the A’s system last season, making hitters look silly from Single-A to Triple-A.

Most of his time came at Double-A Midland last year where he posted a 2.29 ERA in 16 starts, throwing mostly to top catching prospect Sean Murphy before earning a promotion to Triple-A. Murphy had an up-close look at the many Double-A hitters who squirmed in agony during the torture that was a Luzardo at-bat. He could practically tell the batters what pitch was coming and they still would not be able to hit it.

“He’s got more than enough weapons to get everybody out. If you’re facing him and he’s doing what he wants to do, guys don’t have much of a chance,” Murphy said. “He’s mature beyond his years. Being that young and understanding hitters and situations, he’s a special talent.

“He’s one of the most advanced guys I’ve ever caught, if not the most advanced.”

When a young pitcher reaches super-prospect status like Luzardo — he’s ranked the top left-handed prospect in all of baseball by MLB. com — the comparisons become endless. One name that has often been thrown at Luzardo is Johan Santana, another left-hander with a similar body type.

Luzardo was born in Peru, which would make him the first Peruvian-born player in MLB history, but that was only because his Venezuelan father was working a job over there for Motorola at the time of his birth.

Luzardo’s roots are in Venezuela, so naturally, the Venezuelan lefty Santana was an idol for him growing up — a guy he always tried to emulate on the mound, eventually learning to throw a devastating changeup because of that.

“He had a really good changeup,” Luzardo said. “I was always trying to pick his game.”

Melvin had another Luzardo comparison: Felix Hernandez.

The current A’s skipper managed the Seattle Mariners from 2003-04. It was around the time when Hernandez was making his rise through the minor leagues before debuting at just 19 years old. The Luzardo hype is reminiscent.

“We were thinking about how quickly he was going to get to the big league level,” Melvin said of Hernandez. “I think there are some similarities with Luzardo in that he’s awfully talented and obviously there’s a need for us.”

Those are some mighty steep expectations to live up to, but Luzardo is no stranger to surpassing expectations.

Coaching big league stars like Eric Hosmer and Anthony Rizzo, Fitzgerald had seen plenty of otherworldly talent before Luzardo got to Stoneman Douglas High. It was going to take a lot for this undersized pitcher to impress him. By the time Luzardo left, Fitzgerald had placed him among those two as one of the best talents he’s ever coached.

“The thing about Jesús is he’s a product of his work ethic,” Fitzgerald said. “He not only had the physical tools but just the overall makeup of what it takes to be a big leaguer. You can be a great player, but if you don’t have good makeup, you’re not going to last very long in this game.”

It’s a confident-but-not-cocky makeup Luzardo carries. A certain swagger that separates him from other top prospects. He knows he’s great and doesn’t mind the talk about him being the savior of the A’s rotation.

All that stuff about having the most talent this organization has seen since the Zito-Hudson-Mulder days, he welcomes it.

“I want to give the A’s something they can be proud of,” Luzardo said. “I don’t think about those expectations too much because that will just drive you crazy.

“But I definitely embrace it — it’s an honor. Hopefully I can live up to it.”

WHO ELSE IS NEXT?

A look at the A’s other top prospects as rated by MLB.com.

Sean Murphy, C

Drafted: 2016, 3rd (83)

Age: 24

ETA: 2019

Bats: R Throws: R

Ht/Wt: 6’3/ 232

MLB.com says: Murphy has always stood out defensively. He’s athletic and agile behind the plate, he blocks and receives well and gets high marks for his gamecalling and ability to work with pitchers. He also has one of the strongest arms in the minors, one that baserunners don’t test too often and that has thrown out 35.5 percent of potential basestealers heading into 2019. He’s a threat at the plate as well, with a short swing from the right side of the plate to go with a high contact rate. He’s not afraid to draw walks and there could be 20-homer potential in the future.

Lazaro Armenteros, OF

Signed: July 2, 2016

Age: 19

ETA: 2021

Bats: R Throws: R

Ht/Wt: 6’0/182

MLB.com says: One of the top international prospects in 2016 and the A’s liked him enough to go over the spending threshold, incurring penalties when he signed with Oakland for $3 million. Armenteros has the chance to have four at-least average tools at the major league level. He has plus bat speed that makes it easy to project the ability to hit for average with potentially plus power down the road. He’s not afraid to see pitches and draw walks, though he needs to continue to refine his overall approach and pitch recognition in order to cut down his strikeout rate, which was 33.8 percent in 2018.

A.J. Puk, LHP

Drafted: 2016, 1st (6)

Age: 23

ETA: 2020

Bats: L Throws: L

Ht/Wt: 6’7/ 238

MLB.com says: In 2017, Puk led the minors with his 13.2 strikeouts-per-nine, a testament to a full repertoire of outstanding stuff. He’ll throw his fastball up to 96-97 mph and he uses one of the best sliders in the minors, to miss a ton of bats. He mixes in a curveball, and his changeup, once a distant fourth pitch, has become a devastating out pitch as well, flashing plus at times. He uses his 6-foot-7 frame very well, with excellent extension.

Austin Beck, OF

Drafted: 2017, 1st (6)

Age: 20

ETA: 2021

Bats: R Throws: R

Ht/Wt: 6’1/200

What MLB.com says: Beck’s tools are undeniable, though he is still learning to use them consistently. While he hit close to .300 in 2018 and led his Midwest League in hits, he still needs to refine his overall approach to see more pitches and work counts. He does have the bat speed that should allow him to continue to hit for average. Wiith excellent speed and athleticism, Beck has the skills to play center field, the only spot he’s manned so far as a pro, while he has the arm strength to profile in right field should he slow down as he matures. His power will have to show up for him to profile well there, but there’s plenty of time for that, and all facets of his game, to develop.

Khris Davis —no, not Chris — has the attention and awe of baseball’s top talent. Since he’ll be the last person to talk about it, we asked those players to share their admiration.

BY JACK HARRIS