Giants, A’s prospects impress for World team
WASHINGTON — Jesus Luzardo pitched Sunday where everyone expected him to pitch as a big-leaguer. Until the A’s came calling. Drafted by the Nationals in 2016 and traded to the A’s last July, Luzardo started the Futures Game at Nationals Park and showed some of the stuff he has used to dominate the Double-A Texas League this season.
Born in Peru, raised in Florida and of Venezuelan descent, Luzardo started for the World team and threw a high 90s fastball and dazzling changeup, his favorite pitch. He teamed with Giants prospect Heliot Ramos, who hit a pinch single, in a 10-6 loss to the U.S. team.
“It’s kind of ironic being back here at Nationals Park,” Luzardo said. “I’m glad that the Nationals drafted me, and I’m glad they traded me. I’m happy the way things worked out for
me, because I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I’m happy where I am.”
Where he’s at is right where the A’s want him. It’s rare that a 20-year-old is in Double-A, and it’s rarer that someone so young could be so effective at that level, especially having undergone Tommy John surgery in March 2016, cutting his high school senior season short.
The third-youngest Texas League player, Luzardo is 6-3 with a 2.54 ERA in 13 starts for Midland. He has struck out 74 and walked just 15 in 632⁄3 innings, and A’s fans are wondering how quickly they’ll see the lefty in Oakland.
David Ortiz, who managed the World team, said, “I don’t doubt that he’ll get to the major leagues this year.” It’s not clear whether Big Papi has a direct line to the A’s front office or whether he’s simply amazed with the young man’s composure and repertoire.
Either way, Luzardo is worth watching. On Sunday, he got two quick outs before surrendering a double to Brendan Rodgers (Rockies) and an RBI single to Nate Lowe (Rays). Luzardo struck out two of his four batters in his second and final inning, throwing 29 pitches in all, 19 for strikes.
“I don’t have a timetable,” said Luzardo, who was dealt with Blake Treinen and Sheldon Neuse to the A’s for Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson. “I’ll let them decide what they want to do with me.”
Ramos, 18, the Giants’ top draft pick in 2017, also is on the fast track and one of the youngest players in the South Atlantic League. Ramos has struggled at Class A Augusta (.246 average, .323 on-base percentage, .385 slugging percentage), unlike last year in the rookie-level Arizona League (.348/.404/.645).
“I want to move up,” said Ramos, a five-tool center fielder who said his best tool is power. “I want to move up quickly, but they’re the bosses.”
It just so happens Ortiz was Ramos’ favorite player as a young boy. “How he was, the way he played the game, everything overall,” said Ramos, who grew to have a new favorite, someone his game better resembled.
“Andrew McCutchen,” Ramos said of the Giants’ right fielder. “He could do it all.”
Ramos singled sharply up the middle off fellow Giants prospect Shaun Anderson, who has been promoted from Double-A Richmond to Triple-A Sacramento. Anderson, 23, said before the game it would be cool to face Ramos, and it happened in the seventh inning when Ortiz summoned Ramos as a pinch hitter.
“It’s definitely going to go through the organization that he got a hit off me,” said Anderson. “I’m sure I’m going to hear more about it later.”
Anderson, who gave up a home run to top San Diego prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. but earned the win, threw Ramos two fastballs, the second getting too much of the plate. They also faced each other in a minor-league intrasquad game in spring training. Anderson didn’t remember it, but Ramos recalls striking out.
“I guess he got me back then, right?” Anderson said.
Anderson, the Giants’ most advanced starting pitching prospect now that Andrew Suarez and Dereck Rodriguez are in the majors, turned down an invite to the Eastern League All-Star Game so he could pitch at Nationals Park, where the competition extended beyond just Double-A. At Richmond, he posted a 3.45 ERA in 17 games (16 starts) with 93 strikeouts and 22 walks in 94 innings.
Drafted by the Red Sox in the third round in 2016, Anderson, who’s 6-foot-4, was sent to the Giants in last July’s Eduardo Nuñez trade. He said advice he received in spring training from Matt Buschmann, assistant director of player development, carried into the season.
“We worked on tunneling pitches and making it look like every pitch is the same until the last second to throw hitters off balance,” Anderson said.