I plan on perhaps following these players at the end of each month with a post looking at how they are playing at their respective levels,
In the third round, I planned on taking the best pitcher available and there were three pitchers that I had highest on my board ( Two players that I was watching were selected after my second round pick of Heliot Ramos), I looked over things and decided to take Jesus Luzardo of the Oakland Athletics over the other two.
Luzardo, who turned 20 after the 2017 season concluded, was drafted by the Washington Nationals but was traded at the trade deadline last season with Hagerstown Sun Sheldon Neuse to Oakland for pitching help for the Nationals in Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson.
Luzardo underwent Tommy John surgery in high school, but Washington paid a 1.4 million dollar bonus to keep Luzardo from going to the University of Miami.
Washington has had good luck with drafting injured pitchers that dropped through the draft farther than they should have due to injury and then nurturing them through the aftermath of surgery having done just that with Lucas Giolito and Erick Fedde before drafting Luzardo.
Luzardo made his minor debut last year at short-season Vermont and dazzled before the trade in five starts allowing just four earned runs over 18 innings before the trade to Oakland.
Oakland sent him to their Arizona rookie league team first rather than straight to their NY-Penn league in Vermont where he allowed just two earned runs in eleven innings there.
Luzardo's numbers in his three stops ( he also pitched some for the Nationals Gulf Coast league team). were strong with an ERA of 1.66 and 48 strikeouts in 43 innings.
Strikeouts are always a number that I look strongly at the lower levels- mainly that I want to see a strikeout per inning pitched against lower competition.
Even a finesse pitcher should have his share of strikeout in the low minors and if they aren't tricking hitters by either pure stuff or perplexing movement (of either the ball or a deceptive motion) at those levels, they aren't likely to fool many as they climb the ladder.
That's not all from Luzardo, who is reported to sit in the low 90's, but has been listed as hitting 98, he walked just five batters in those 43 innings.
Keep in mind that batters at these stops aren't always known for their plate patience, but still five walks for a hard thrower is pretty impressive to me.
The well-traveled lefthander, who was born in Peru, lived some in Venezuela before settling in Florida for high school has an excellent head on his shoulders besides his three pitches (fastball, curve and change-up) as Luzardo graduated from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school, the site of the recent shootings in 2016 and is involved in raising money to honor Douglas A.D. Chris Hixon, who was shot and killed during those shooting as he sought to save others.
It'll be fun to follow the power-armed lefthander as he moves through the Oakland system this season, he is expected to start at Low A Beloit, and even though drafting pitchers are always risky, Jesus Luzardo was a nice selection in round three.
I'll attempt to finish the series with my other picks (I pulled a trade later to add a third player) as the week goes on...
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