Jesús Luzardo: Futures Game starter a Venezuelan born in Lima
By César Augusto Márquez
Once Jesús Luzardo reaches the majors, he’ll go down in the history books as the first big leaguer to have been born in Peru. Actually, on a personal level, the Lima native prefers to be counted as a Venezuelan.
“I was born in Lima because my parents were there, but I only lived there one year,” the top Oakland A’s pitching prospect told La Vida Baseball in Spanish. “After that year we moved to Parkland, Fla., where I was raised. I never lived in Venezuela, but I feel Venezuelan because my parents are from there and we travelled all the time to visit family in Maracaibo. I was raised with the values of any home in Venezuela.”
Venezolano Siempre [Always Venezuelan]
The values Luzardo alludes to range from the most casual, such as the food he likes, and to the more serious topics relating to his feelings on the national, such as his desire to don the Águilas del Zulia jersey, which is the winter league team with which he signed.
Expression of those feelings also includes the spikes he wore during the Futures Game, which were yellow, blue and red as a tribute to the colors in the Venezuelan flag. The spikes even had the letters “SOS,” which is the message several Venezuelan ballplayers sent during the 2017 protests back home.
“They are small but important details, like the arepas and cachapas that I grew up eating and now are part of the things I like to eat the most,” he said. “Or my desire to play in Venezuela with the Aguilas, which is something that I hope to do eventually.”
Making an Impression
Luzardo earned his Futures Game starting nod with an impressive start to the 2018 season. The young lefthander has a 2.30 ERA with 99 strikeouts and only 20 walks in 79 ⅓ innings between Class A and Class AA. That’s not bad at all for a young man barely in his second season of professional baseball.
Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who managed the World Team, called Luzardo around midnight to inform him that he would start the Futures Game.
Luzardo was admittedly surprised. He considered the nod an honor.
“Luzardo is a young man who has shown a lot, and above all, that he has advanced quickly,” Ortiz said. “I think that since spring training he started to have a good season, which he continued doing during the season. I would be surprised if he doesn’t reach the majors this year.”
So what’s next for Luzardo?
A different road
Unlike the majority of Venezuelan prospects – or Peruvians in his case – Luzardo wasn’t signed during the July 2 international signing window. He was drafted.
“Growing up here I started practicing baseball in the United States,” he said. “First I went to the Perfect Game showcase with many prospects my age. That’s where I drew the attention of the Washington Nationals, who signed me originally and eventually traded me to Oakland.”
Luzardo is a graduate of Marjory Stoneman High School, which had a mass shooting this past February.
As fate would have it, Luzardo pitched on a big league mound as a professional for the first time at Nationals Park on Sunday. It surely wasn’t the way he expected when he was originally drafted by the Nationals, but it was special nonetheless as an A’s prospect in the Futures Game.
“I’m grateful to the Nationals for the opportunity to sign professionally,” he said before giving up one run in two innings in the same city where Alejandro Carrasquel became the first Venezuelan in the majors 79 years ago. “And I think it will always be special to pitch in a big league stadium, whether it’s here or any other stadium.”
Featured Image: Jean Fruth / La Vida Baseball
Inset Image: Jean Fruth / La Vida Baseball