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Jesus Luzardo

AL Injury Notes: Luzardo, Stroman, Twins, Mize

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There’s now a rough timeline for Athletics southpaw Jesus Luzardo, who was agonizingly close to a full return from a shoulder injury — and his first taste of the majors — when he suffered a lat strain days ago. Fortunately, the hyped 21-year-old could be ready to begin a new rehab assignment within four or five weeks. That’s about as quick a potential bounce back as might have been hoped for a player who’ll assuredly be handled with extra care. It seems there’s still a reasonable shot of Luzardo being a late-season MLB option, though the A’s will not be able to assume that they’ll get a shot in the arm from the top prospect.

Here’s more from the American League:

  • Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman will not take the ball again before the All-Star break, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets. Stroman hasn’t pitched since he exited a June 29 start with a left pectoral cramp, though the injury may not be severe enough to prevent him from participating in the All-Star Game, according to Nicholson-Smith. Regardless, the team’s hope is he’ll start its first game after the break. The fact that Stroman’s one of the game’s most obvious trade candidates makes his health all the more crucial with the July 31 deadline coming up.
  • There was some good news and bad news today on the injury front for the Twins, as Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports (Twitter links). Outfielder Eddie Rosario, on the IL with a sprained ankle since June 28, is making progress and should return shortly after the All-Star break, manager Rocco Baldelli suggested. Meanwhile, the left oblique strain that forced fan favorite and utilityman Willians Astudillo to the IL on June 27 is “significant,” per Baldelli. It could keep Astudillo out “for the foreseeable future,” Park writes.
  • Tigers prospect Casey Mize has resumed throwing after a recent injury scare, GM Al Avila told reporters including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (via Twitter). That’s not of immediate consequence for the Detroit club, but is certainly excellent news for the team’s long-term outlook. Mize, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick and one of the majors’ elite farmhands, has been on the minor league IL with right shoulder inflammation for three weeks. The 22-year-old laid waste to his competition before then, combining for a 0.92 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 78 innings between High-A and Double-A ball.

Jesus Luzardo Suffers Lat Strain

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Prized Athletics left-hander Jesus Luzardo had been nearing his major league debut, but that’s now off the table for the time being. Luzardo, out all season with a left rotator cuff strain, suffered a Grade 2 left lat strain in a Triple-A rehab start Tuesday, the team announced. There’s no timetable for Luzardo’s return from his newest injury.

This is a brutal development for the playoff-contending Athletics, who were banking on Luzardo helping to stabilize their rotation down the stretch. Luzardo, widely regarded as an elite pitching prospect, had been expected to slot into their staff after the All-Star break. The 21-year-old’s forthcoming debut would have been all the more timely with the A’s having lost their ace, Frankie Montas, to an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs on June 21.

Oakland will now have to continue waiting for Luzardo, whose ongoing absence could impact its trade deadline plans. Despite Montas’ loss, general manager David Forst suggested last week the A’s would focus more on upgrading their bullpen than their rotation around the deadline. The team may now have to reverse course in the wake of Luzardo’s setback, though. The A’s rode an underwhelming rotation to a playoff berth in 2018, but expecting it to happen again with this year’s mediocre bunch might be unrealistic.

Pitcher Notes: Vazquez, Brewers, Luzardo, White Sox, Padres

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The Brewers expressed interest in Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez last summer, though talks didn’t go anywhere, Robert Murray of The Athletic reports. The left-handed Vazquez would have teamed with Brewers southpaw Josh Hader and righty Jeremy Jeffress to form a nigh-unhittable relief trio on paper, perhaps one that could have pushed the club over the top in the National League. He remains a Pirate, though, and the Vazquez-less Brewers fell to the Dodgers in a seven-game NLCS last year.  Milwaukee may call its division rival again this year about Vazquez (if the Brewers haven’t already), but it’ll continue to be incredibly difficult for anyone to pry him out of Pittsburgh.

  • Rehabbing Athletics lefty Jesus Luzardo threw five innings and 66 pitches at the Triple-A level Thursday. He’ll extend to six innings and 90 pitches Tuesday, according to Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. The highly touted 21-year-old prospect hasn’t gotten to debut in the majors yet because of a shoulder strain he suffered late in the spring, but the hope is he’ll burst on the scene next month to bolster the playoff-contending A’s rotation. The club needs Luzardo’s assistance, having lost ace Frankie Montas to an 80-game performance-enhancing drug suspension a week ago.
  • At 6 1/2 games back of a wild-card spot, the White Sox may be closer to playoff position than expected this season. However, general manager Rick Hahn unsurprisingly isn’t going to mortgage the future for short-term pitching help prior to the deadline, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score writes. Asked Friday about adding an established starter in the next month, Hahn said: “”I wouldn’t say you can count on additions at the deadline that will be short-term fixes. Our focus going to remain long term.” Hahn admitted Chicago “would like to add controllable starting pitching,” but he quickly noted that’s a goal for every team in the game. Below-average starting pitching has prevented the White Sox from making a more serious playoff push this year. While Lucas Giolito has been tremendous, the team hasn’t gotten respectable production from any of its other starters.
  • Injured Padres reliever Aaron Loup will return in “late August, early September if things go well,” manager Andy Green said Friday (via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). It’s clear this will go down as a mostly lost season for Loup, whom the Padres signed to a one-year, $1.2MM contract entering the campaign. The 31-year-old lefty has been on the injured list since April 9 because of a forearm strain. Loup was effective in a small sample of work before then, throwing 3 1/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball with five strikeouts against one walk.

Athletics Hoping To Bolster Bullpen

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The Athletics lost ace Frankie Montas to an 80-game performance-enhancing drug suspension last week, but the team nonetheless seems more focused on improving its bullpen than its starting staff as the July 31 trade deadline nears.

Speaking with the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser on the A’s Plus podcast Monday, general manager David Forst said, in part, “I think the bullpen is probably the first place we look, not because we don’t like the group we have here but because it’s been less consistent than it was last year – which was inevitable.”

The A’s bullpen managed a 3.80 ERA/3.89 FIP a year ago, though the figures have risen to 4.32/4.09 this season as closer Blake Treinen has taken steps backward. Treinen posted a jaw-dropping 0.78 ERA across 80 1/3 innings in 2018, but the number has shot to 4.08 over 35 1/3 frames this season, and the rest of his production has also gone in a discouraging direction. Adding injury to insult, the 30-year-old went to the shelf over the weekend with a shoulder issue.

Treinen’s decline aside, the Athletics have also gotten worse bottom-line production from fellow relievers Lou Trivino, J.B. Wendelken and Ryan Buchter in comparison to last season. Moreover, they lost important 2018 contributors in Jeurys Familia, Shawn Kelley and Fernando Rodney. Familia left for the Mets in free agency, Kelley signed with the Rangers, and Rodney got off to such a horrendous start this year that the Athletics released him at the end of May. And free-agent signing Joakim Soria – whom the A’s gave $15MM to help replace Familia and Kelley – has accounted for a disappointing 4.93 ERA through 34 2/3 innings, though his peripherals indicate it’s way too soon to write off the long-effective veteran.

In better news for the A’s, 2018-19 bullpen innings king Yusmeiro Petit is largely the same pitcher he was last year. While Petit has met expectations, no A’s reliever has been better than Liam Hendriks, who went from outrighted off their roster last July to pitching in a key role down the stretch a year ago. Hendriks has carried that momentum into this season, evidenced by a near-spotless 1.12 ERA/2.39 FIP in 40 1/3 innings.

Petit, Hendriks & Co. are still in obvious need of complements, which is something the A’s may be able to find both in and out of the organization in the coming weeks. Left-handed prospect A.J. Puk and righty Jharel Cotton could impact the team’s bullpen down the stretch. Puk’s on the mend from April 2018 Tommy John surgery, while Cotton underwent a TJ procedure in March 2018 and is now fighting back from a recent hamstring surgery. Even if the A’s expect late-year contributions from Puk and Cotton, though, they could still scour the trade market for help. There are plenty of relievers who figure to wind up on the move before July’s out, with the Giants’ Will Smith, Tony Watson and Sam Dyson, the Padres’ Kirby Yates, the White Sox’s Alex Colome, the Tigers’ Shane Greene and the Orioles’ Mychal Givens among an even larger group of potential trade pieces.

A beefed-up bullpen would take pressure off Oakland’s Montas-less rotation, which doesn’t necessarily look as if it’s primed to welcome outside acquisitions.

“You add a starter toward the end of July, there’s a limited number of appearances you’re talking about,” Forst told Slusser. “Not that I wouldn’t consider adding a starting pitcher but the cost in both dollars and player capital is typically high that time of year for starting pitching. So you have to balance that with the impact a reliever can make more often with the impact the guys from within the organization can make.”

Even with a breakout 90 innings from Montas, this hasn’t been a lights-out statistical year for the A’s starting staff. Mike Fiers, Brett Anderson, Chris Bassitt and Tanner Anderson have prevented runs at acceptable rates over a combined 243 frames. However, the peripherals of Fiers, Anderson and Bassitt portend trouble, and Anderson has a meager three starts and 15 innings to this point. Oakland does have one or two impactful reinforcements on the way, though, including prized lefty prospect Jesus Luzardo. The 21-year-old Luzardo, who’s on the comeback trail from a shoulder strain, could finally make his major league debut in early July, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. On the other hand, No. 1 2018 starter Sean Manaea – who hasn’t pitched since undergoing left shoulder surgery last September – is now dealing with right side soreness.

With Luzardo and Manaea still unavailable at the moment, the A’s could recall Daniel Mengden or Paul Blackburn from Triple-A Las Vegas, according to Slusser, who writes southpaw Wei-Chung Wang’s “a strong possibility” to function as an opener against lefty-heavy lineups. Those aren’t the most exciting options, but if we’re to believe Forst, the A’s seem OK with the starting choices they have on hand.

AL Notes: Yankees, Luzardo, Royals

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Here are a few interesting recent notes from the American League …

  • While the era of value-conscious roster building hasn’t yet resulted in the desired number of World Championships, the Yankees have had plenty of success. And whatever one may say about the overall strategy, it’s hard to argue with most of the trades engineered by GM Brian Cashman, Ken Dadvidoff of the New York Post argues. Even if the players acquired by the Yanks haven’t always panned out as hoped, the club has not had much cause for regretting the young talent it parted with. It’s worth noting that there is one other deal that may have cost the Yanks dearly: the November 2017 trade of Caleb Smith and Garrett Cooper to the Marlins, which was seen at the time as little more than a roster clean-out. The player the Yankees added in that deal, young pitcher Mike King, emerged after the swap. But he has been slowed by elbow issues, while Smith and Cooper have emerged as quality MLB performers this year.*
  • We’ve known for a while that Jesus Luzardo would be on the move back toward the majors for the Athletics, but it remained to be seen how he’d look after a lengthy absence for shoulder problems. The youngster has only increased the excitement with his performance. He ran up nine strikeouts in four innings in his latest High-A appearance and earned a bump back up to Triple-A, as Martin Gallegos of MLB.com tweets. It’s still possible the 21-year-old could be held down for a while after he’s deemed at full health, but the A’s are surely also anxious to get him onto the MLB roster. There’s no word yet whether fellow rehabbing southpaw pitching prospect A.J. Puk will also move up to the highest level of the minors.
  • Veteran K.C. Star scribe Sam Mellinger delivered a realistic assessment of the Royals’ immediate outlook. The club signaled in mid-May that it believed it might be competitive for a Wild Card. GM Dayton Moore says he legitimately “expected more wins.” But as Mellinger explains, there’s an undeniable disconnect between expectations — particularly, those projected publicly — and the results on the field. There have been some notable successes, but the Royals have in the aggregate been nearly as bad as an unabashedly rebuilding Orioles club. Mellinger is careful to note that Moore and his top lieutenants aren’t at immediate risk of being replaced, particularly given their incredible achievements in recent years. It’s an interesting look at the state of a uniquely situated organization. Mellinger also notes that righties Jakob Junis and Scott Barlow have drawn some trade inquiries, though neither has been consistently effective this year and both have plenty of cheap control remaining.

*The initial version of this post mistakenly stated that King had undergone Tommy John surgery. We regret the error.

A.J. Puk, Jesus Luzardo Impress In Rehab Debuts

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A pair of highly talented Athletics lefties returned to competitive action yesterday after long layoffs. Prospects A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo each began injury rehab assignments last night, appearing for the High-A Stockton Ports.

That news is quite promising on its own. Better still for the A’s, the southpaw duo looked to be in fine form. As Tyler Maun of MiLB.com writes, both hurlers impressed in 33-pitch piggyback appearances.

Puk came out blazing in his first competitive work since the 2017 season, working in the upper nineties with his acclaimed heater. He ultimately ran up four strikeouts in two frames while permitting one run on one hit — a home run from highly regarded Giants prospect Heliot Ramos.

It’s excellent to see that Puk has regained his arm speed since undergoing Tommy John surgery. He underwent the procedure in April of 2011, temporarily halting what was likely to be a quick run through the Oakland farm system. Puk, who went sixth overall in the 2016 draft, had been expected to make his way to the majors early in the 2018 campaign after an impressive showing in MLB camp that year.

The story isn’t altogether different for Luzardo, who featured in a similar role in the spring of 2019. He also had hopes of a swift rise to the majors dashed by injury. In his case, shoulder troubles caused the team to order a shutdown late in camp. The organization understandably set a cautious course for the 21-year-old hurler.

Last night, Luzardo spun three scoreless frames. He struck out two, with Ramos among the victims, while logging 24 strikes in his 33 pitches. That’s efficient work from the precocious hurler, who is known most for his exceptional feel and command over his three-pitch arsenal.

Where things go from here will depend upon quite a few factors, including the way that Puk and Luzardo recover from their first big tests. There’s little question that they’ll be tasked with multiple additional rehab starts while they build up their pitch counts and the club evaluates their readiness. But it’s hard not to dream on successive MLB debuts as soon as early July.

“I just know that they’re going to be throwing pretty consistently now until the end of the year,” Stockton pitching coach Chris Smith says. “The gloves are off. They want to see those kids hit the ground running.”

That’s an encouraging takeaway for A’s fans. These exciting young pitchers still have hurdles to clear before reaching the majors, but that goal is now clearly in sight. Adding them to a generally subpar rotation mix would completely change the complexion of the Oakland pitching staff. Whether that’ll occur remains to be seen, but the A’s ought to have a good sense before the trade deadline.

A.J. Puk, Jesus Luzardo Set To Begin Minor-League Rehab Stints

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Per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, A’s lefties A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo will each begin a rehab stint on Tuesday with High-A Stockton. Puk will be making his first live-game mound appearance since undergoing Tommy John Surgery last April, while Luzardo, who’d been dealing with left shoulder soreness, will appear in an official game for the first time since last August.

Puk, a 6’7 lefty who was the sixth overall pick in the 2016 draft, had laid waste to the minors before his injury in the Spring of last season. His “double-plus” fastball and “vicious” (adjectives per Baseball America) slider allowed him to post double-digit strikeout rates in each of his three minor-league stops, culminating in a 61-inning stint for Double-A Midland in which the U of Florida product set down 86 batters in just 64 innings. It’ll surely be a lengthy rehab process for the projected ace, though it appears the club will use him in relief should he crack the majors this season.

Luzardo, a 21-year-old Peruvian-born hurler, was acquired in mid-2017 from Washington with Blake Treinen for relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle. Little known at the time of the deal, Luzardo has rocketed up prospect lists after dominating performances of his own the last two seasons. Baseball America ranked him as the top lefty in the minors after 2018, waxing especially thorough on his changeup, which the site ranks as one of the minors’ best. Shoulder injuries are always cause for serious concern, but if Luzardo can make it through his first few outings unscathed, he’ll be a strong candidate to crack what’s been a middling A’s rotation thus far.

AL Notes: Athletics, Kikuchi, Buttrey, Tribe

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The Athletics are welcoming designated hitter Khris Davis back from the 10-day injured list on Saturday, the team announced. The slugger hasn’t taken an at-bat since May 21 because of a left hip/oblique contusion. In further positive news for the A’s, injured hurlers Sean Manaea, Jesus Luzardo and Marco Estrada are all making progress, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports (Twitter links here). Manaea, recovering from the left shoulder surgery he underwent last September, will throw live batting practice Tuesday. The promising prospect Luzardo threw a two-inning, 30-pitch sim game Saturday, after which A’s manager Bob Melvin offered an encouraging update. Luzardo hasn’t pitched this season on account of a rotator cuff strain in his left shoulder, while Estrada has been down since mid-April because of a back problem. Estrada will start playing catch Monday and isn’t far from beginning a regular throwing program, Gallegos relays.

  • On the heels of back-to-back brutal performances from Yusei Kikuchi, the Mariners are skipping the southpaw’s start Tuesday in an effort to “recharge the batteries,” according to manager Scott Servais (via Greg Johns of MLB.com). Kikuchi will slot back into their rotation “later next week,” Johns writes. The 27-year-old Kikuchi yielded 10 earned runs on 20 hits, including three homers, over 6 2/3 innings in his two latest starts. He joined the Mariners in the offseason as a ballyhooed signing from Japan, and has gotten off to a so-so start in the majors. Kikuchi owns a 4.43 ERA/4.64 FIP with 6.72 K/9, 2.28 BB/9 and a 45 percent groundball rate through 67 innings. Now that Kikuchi’s headed for a brief respite, the Mariners could promote lefty Jon Niese or righty Anthony Misiewicz from Triple-A Tacoma as his replacement, per Johns. Neither hurler is on the M’s 40-man roster, but the team does have a pair of openings at the moment.
  • Righty Ty Buttrey has been the Angels’ top reliever in 2019, but they’re leery of overusing the rookie, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times explains. Acquired from Boston last July for second baseman Ian Kinsler, the hard-throwing Buttrey has tossed 28 1/3 innings in his first full season with the Angels. He leads Halos relievers in ERA (1.27) and FIP (2.09), and has helped his cause with 11.12 K/9, 2.22 BB/9 and a 46.5 percent grounder rate. Buttrey’s currently on pace for 74 appearances and 80 innings. It doesn’t appear the 26-year-old will get to either figure by the end of the season, however, as manager Brad Ausmus noted he’s “got to think about this kid’s health.”
  • Indians right-hander Jefry Rodriguez exited his start against the White Sox on Saturday with right lat tightness, Zack Meisel of The Athletic tweets. It’s yet another unfortunate development for Cleveland’s rotation, which has gone without the injured Corey Kluber–Mike Clevinger duo for most of the season and has gotten somewhat underwhelming performances from Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco. Rodriguez logged good results in four innings Saturday, but the 25-year-old has only managed a 4.74 ERA/4.47 FIP with 6.6 K/9 and 3.92 BB/9 in 43 2/3 frames on the season.

Injured Athletics Hurlers Making Progress

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Several injured Athletics pitchers are on the march back to the majors, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Whether they’ll make it in time to help draw the team back into the postseason race remains to be seen.

Jharel Cotton is furthest along among those sidelined with long-term maladies. He’s slated to launch a rehab assignment on Friday in his effort to return from Tommy John surgery, which means he could be pitching from a big-league mound by mid-June.

The 27-year-old Cotton hasn’t appeared in competitive action since the 2017 campaign, his first full go at the MLB level. He managed only a 5.58 ERA in 129 innings, with 28 long balls largely to blame. Still, he has long been seen as a potentially solid back-of-the-rotation big-league hurler.

There’s an even more talented trio of lefties also grinding through the rehab process as well. Former first-rounder A.J. Puk just threw his first simulated game, which is quite a notable step in his own TJ recovery. He could be an option as soon as July, Slusser indicates, with Sean Manaea (shoulder surgery) and Jesus Luzardo (rotator cuff strain) potentially being available after the trade deadline.

This glance at the injured list serves as a reminder of how much talent the Oakland organization has been forced to go without in the early going. Unfortunately, it seems as if the club will need to claw back into the race before it receives much in the way of reinforcement.

The rotation hasn’t been the sole cause of the A’s slow start, but there are certainly some issues. The three veteran offseason signees haven’t exactly thrived. Outside of his no-hitter, Mike Fiers has struggled. Marco Estrada did the same before going down with an injury. Brett Anderson has been solid but is hardly a dominant rotation piece. There are mixed results otherwise. Frankie Montas is pitching quite well and Chris Bassitt has shown some promise in a four-start sample, but Aaron Brooks has been homer-prone and Daniel Mengden’s first start of the year didn’t go well.

Jesus Luzardo Hires MVP Sports Group

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Athletics pitching prospect Jesus Luzardo has hired MVP Sports Group to represent him, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). The move comes less than a year since Luzardo’s previous agency change.

Luzardo is nursing back to health after suffering a rotator cuff strain this spring. He has been throwing for several weeks but has yet to embark upon a rehab assignment.

He’d likely be in the majors had it not been for the unfortunate injury, which broke a string of positive developments for the 21-year-old hurler. Seen as a rising young hurler when he was dealt to the A’s in the summer of 2017, Luzardo soared up prospect ranking lists with a superlative 2018 campaign.

Entering the current campaign, he was seen as a consensus top-twenty leaguewide prospect and was graded seventh overall by Baseball America.  Luzardo seemed poised for the big leagues after netting 15 strikeouts in 9 2/3 spring innings.

Luzardo should represent an option for the A’s once he’s able to get back to full health and ramp back up, but the delayed start to the year has obviously slowed his ascent. In addition to the missed chances (and missed service time) early this season, Luzardo will not have an opportunity to build upon his single-season innings tally (109 1/3 last year). That could lead to some workload restrictions next year.

As always, you can find the latest representation information in MLBTR’s Agency Database.

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