A’s hope Luzardo has ‘step forward’

Is lefthander, 23, bound for top of rotation?

Jesús Luzardo’s early exploits with the A’s make the lefthander seem older to manager Bob Melvin. Mid20s, even. “Experiencewise, it feels like he’s 25,” Melvin said. “We have thrown probably more at him at an early age than maybe anybody since I’ve been here.

“The reason is because he’s a really talented guy. I said in the offseason my expectation of Jesús is to be a top-of-the-rotation starter, and that probably starts this year.”

At 23, Luzardo already has pitched in two postseasons for the A’s. He has worked out of their bullpen and rotation. His start in last year’s playoff opener, a day before he turned 23, reflected the A’s confidence in him. It was also among what Melvin termed “speed

bumps” in the lefthander’s rookie season.

Luzardo totaled the secondmost innings (59) and strikeouts (59) among rookies in the short 2020 season, yet other numbers were less impressive. In 12 games, nine starts, Luzardo had a 32 record and 4.12 ERA. Opponents had a .745 OPS against him, above the league average. In two playoff starts, he allowed seven runs in 72⁄3 innings.

“He has high expectations of himself,” said A’s starter Mike Fiers, who has trained with Luzardo in past offseasons. “I don’t think he was too happy about last year. I think he felt like he could have done a lot better. And that goes with everybody, but I know he can be a lot better, too.”

“He’s the type of guy that learns from, I think, those type of experiences and is going to be better for it as opposed to a guy that might shy away,” Melvin said. “I think he takes an added step forward this year.”

Drafted out of high school, Luzardo logged less than 200 minorleague innings before debuting with the A’s in late 2019. Although the cameo was tantalizing — 12 innings, 16 strikeouts — A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson said he expects that means Luzardo is still developing in his early majorleague days.

“He’s got the stuff and the mental toughness that … I believe he can do that,” Emerson said.

“Him being on the mound more last year in the big leagues gave him intel that he needs. I think he’s a very smart, intelligent kid. He knows what he wants to do. So the more intel he gets on majorleague hitters, and the way he can process it — I think he’s a great student of the game — it’ll help him.”

One thing Luzardo thought he lacked last season was consistency in mechanics. His arm slot varied and his pitches behaved differently during the year. This offseason, Luzardo said he worked on repeating his motion even when not on a mound — while watching TV or sitting outside.

“When I was bored, just practicing my mechanics, doing everything I could to get it to where I wanted it to be,” Luzardo said on a video call Sunday. “I think I was able to repeat it so much that it’s right where I want to be. My body feels good where I am now when I’m pitching. My arm slot’s back to where it needs to be. Everything is in line for now.”

Luzardo said his breaking ball was erratic last year but he thinks it’s “back to where it was” in 2019, when it was “the best I’ve ever thrown.” His talks with players, including hitters, indicated there wasn’t enough variation last year on the velocity of his different pitches. So changing speeds better is a priority.

Like many pitchers, Luzardo faces a workload increase with the return to a 162game schedule. Luzardo threw a professional careerhigh 1091⁄3 innings in 2018. He said Sunday he “feels great” and the idea of returning to the playoffs is “extremely motivating.”

“Postseason’s big, a lot of pressure situations, everyone’s throwing their best at you, giving you their best atbat,” Luzardo said. “I think those experiences, taking those rough outings, and kind of knowing the preparation it takes, the mentality it takes to succeed in those situations, I think that’s something I can use for this year.”