‘Very quick mover’ Luzardo shuts down Trout, Angels
TEMPE, ARIZ. >> A’s pitching prospect Jesus Luzardo has been praised by Manager Bob Melvin for the poise he’s shown this spring, but the young left-hander could no longer contain himself.
Luzardo tried to play it cool as he walked off the mound after striking out Mike Trout in the third inning of Friday’s 4-2 victory, but as soon as he got back to the clubhouse and was asked about what he had done against the Angels su- perstar, Luzardo’s face lit up with a huge smile.
“Honestly that pitch I struck him out on was a curveball I kind of left up, so that was kind of surprising to me,” Luzardo said. “I can’t complain. Striking out a guy like that, you can’t help but smile. It ended on a good note.”
As soon as he got back to his locker, Luzardo’s phone had already blown up with text messages from his friends talking about the at- bat with Trout.
“A couple of my friends video taped it,” Luzardo said. “It was funny.”
Manager Bob Melvin joked after the 4-2 victory that the A’s would be taking Luzardo with them on their return flight to Oakland. Luzardo, 20, had already impressed in two previous outings this spring as a call-up from minor league camp, but watching what the youngster did against an Angels lineup that featured most of its regulars really caught Melvin’s eye. Luzardo allowed no runs on three hits with a walk and three strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings.
“This lineup is gonna get your attention. I don’t care who you are,” Melvin said. “He was throwing breaking balls in off counts and up to 97 from what I saw on the radar gun. This is gonna be a very quick mover. Very impressive to go out there and start against this team and look the way he did.”
Melvin said removing Luzardo after the strikeout of Trout was not planned; Luzardo had just reached his pitch count for the day. But he was glad it worked out that way.
“That’s a nice little feather in his cap,” Melvin said.
Acquired from the Nationals in a trade for Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson last year, Luzardo had an astonishing 48-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 43 1/3 innings pitched in the minor leagues.
Now rated as the No. 2 prospect in the organization, Luzardo will embark on his first full season in the A’s organization with the experience of having had success against big league hitters this spring. He did not allow a run in six innings with the big league club.
“It’s definitely a confidence booster,” Luzardo
said. “I’ll take that into the season. It helps me think that I don’t need to do anything more than what I already am. Just keep doing my own thing.”
• A’s pitcher Daniel Gossett wasn’t expected to start the season in the starting rotation, but recent injury developments have thrust him into a starting role. With Jharel Cotton out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL, and Paul Blackburn not expected to be ready for opening day with a strained forearm, Gossett is by default in the rotation as one of the five healthy options entering the regular season.
A 2014 second-round pick, Gossett dominated his way from Single-A to Triple-A in 2016 and continued to pitch well in Triple-A last season until earning a big-league call-up in June. But Gossett seemed to hit a wall once he got to Oakland. He had displayed flashes of his minor league dominance at times, but ended up posting a 6.11 ERA in 18 starts with 21 home runs allowed.
His poor season put him behind the pack in the starting rotation battle this spring, but Melvin has been impressed with what he’s seen from Gossett. The right-hander has a 2.79 ERA in four appearances this spring, with 10 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings.
“It’s been kind of the last few innings of games and so forth, but he’s pitched well, and sometimes it’s even more difficult to do that,” Melvin said. “The velocity has picked up and he’s pitching in the fashion that he did in Triple-A when he was at his best.”