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Jesús Luzardo has been pitching better than you might think. The 28-year-old Philadelphia Phillies left-hander is an uninspiring 4-4 with a 4.56 ERA over 13 starts covering 73 innings, but his surface stats only tell part of the story. Luzardo has a 3.40 FIP — it was a sparkling 2.77 prior to his most recent outing — while his 26.7% hard-hit percentage ranks second lowest among qualified pitchers. Moreover, he misses his fair share of bats. His 25.6% strikeout rate ranks in the 73rd percentile, while his 30.7% whiff rate is in the 86th. Good fortune simply hasn’t been on his side. At .343, Luzardo has the highest BABIP among qualified pitchers.

The lefty’s lack of luck isn’t what I wanted to talk to him about when the Phillies visited Boston in mid-May. Rather, I was interested in how he has evolved as a pitcher since we first spoke nine years ago. At the time, Luzardo was a 19-year-old Oakland Athletics prospect who was playing for the New York-Penn League’s Vermont Lake Monsters. A lot of water having gone under the bridge, change was inevitable.

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David Laurila: We talked back in 2017 when you were getting your feet wet in short-season ball. Just how much have you changed as a pitcher since that time?

Jesús Luzardo: “I have a little bit different repertoire now. I’ve added some pitches. I’ve fine-tuned my mechanics. Along the way, I’ve just matured as a pitcher. I mean, I feel like I still have a long way to go, that I can get even better. I haven’t reached my full maturity as a pitcher. But I’m definitely a lot more polished. I know more about myself, what makes me me.”

Laurila: In what ways has your repertoire evolved?

Luzardo: “I’ve made my sinker better. I made changes to my changeup this recent year — it’s developed in a good way — and I’ve added a sweeper as well.”

Laurila: Can you elaborate on the changeup?

Luzardo: “It’s a split change. I was inspired a little bit by Kevin Gausman’s grip. Looking at video of him, I kind of tinkered, and while it’s maybe not the exact same grip, it’s along the same lines. I used to throw more of a regular circle change, kind of a wide-grip circle change, but wanted to see if I could come up with something better. I’m always striving to be the best I can, and felt that a better changeup would help. I think that it has.”

Laurila: What about the sweeper?

Luzardo: “After I got traded over here [from the Miami Marlins in December 2024], our pitching coach, Caleb Cotham, gave me a call and asked if I’d ever thrown a sweeper. I said no, but that kind of sparked a thought into my brain of trying it. During the offseason, I tried out a couple of grips and found one that worked. Then, throughout the spring and during the season, we fine-tuned it.

“I wouldn’t say there is anything unique about the grip, although it is maybe a little different than other sweepers. I spike it. It’s not as big as a traditional sweeper — it doesn’t have as much horizontal movement — but it has way more than the slider I used to have. I mean, it could definitely be better. I could tunnel it a little better, make it sharper, maybe have better command of it.”

Laurila: You said that your sinker has improved. How so?

Luzardo: “It has more depth this year than in the past. It also has a good amount of run, so it has good distinction from my four-seam fastball. We don’t use it as much, though. It’s a matter of finding the correct times and places to use all of my pitches.”

Laurila: I believe you used to throw a curveball?

Luzardo: “Yes, but once I got to the big leagues, I never threw it again. It was a slurvish type of pitch, so it was kind of a curveball, but I lowered my arm slot and kind of lost that breaking ball. The slider was the one I leaned on the most.”

Laurila: You told me earlier today that you’ve become somewhat of a pitching nerd. How did that come to be, and how has it impacted you as a pitcher?

Luzardo: “I used to not really be big into analytics. Analytics were never really on my side, I guess you could say. But then I started looking to see how maybe I can use it to my advantage, see how it could help me understand things like the tilt of a pitch, which way I wanted it to spin, the spin efficiency, finding out what makes a good split-change. What are the numbers, and how do I get my pitch to do that?

“There’s a place for that, but you have to blend it with the old school way of pitching by feel, learning how to pitch. Pitchability. Those are things that analytics can’t necessarily quantify. As for when I started looking more into it, I’d say it was more gradual, kind of progressing as I’ve gone along.”

Laurila: Why were you initially hesitant to embrace analytics?

Luzardo: “I came up with old school pitching coaches who were very big on feel and pitchability, and not necessarily the numbers — Rapsodo, TrackMan, and all that. But as I went along in my career, those things got bigger and bigger. We got more knowledge, using high-speed cameras and all these other things that help us fine-tune our pitches and arsenals.”

Laurila: How do you identify as pitcher? For instance, do you view yourself as more of a power guy, or more of a finesse guy?

Luzardo: “I consider myself more of a power pitcher. I would like to be a little more finesse. I have a lot of respect for guys like Ranger Suarez. I love watching him pitch, the way he goes about it. He’s a finesse pitcher. He knows how to work the edges, how to move it around with different pitches. Martín Pérez is another. Guys like that maybe don’t consider themselves power pitchers, but they know how to pitch. I would like to incorporate that into my game a little more.