Apr 15, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) throws a pitch against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning at Citizens Bank Park. All players wore #42 for Jackie Robinson Day. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
There's been a lot of consternation among the hoi polloi about what the Phillies did this past offseason, especially after seeing the rough start by Jordan Romano and the inconsistencies that have emerged with both Max Kepler and Joe Ross.
But, the one offseason addition that has proven to be a home run - at least through April - has been Jesús Luzardo.
Through six starts, Luzardo is 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA and a 1.073 WHIP. His FIP is an impressive 2.00 and his ERA+ is an eye-popping 241. His 1.6 WAR is tops in the National League among all pitchers.
But there is always a cloud looming over Luzardo - and that is the one that reminds you that he has had a difficult time staying healthy in his major league career.
The one season he did - 2023 - he anchored a Miami Marlins rotation that earned them a playoff berth against the Phillies.
But durability will always be a concern - especially for those who have conditioned themselves to be fatalistic about the Phillies every day, no matter how they are playing.
But there are two reasons to worry just a little bit less about that cloud. The first is the Phillies do a masterful job at keeping their pitchers healthy compared to other teams.
Consider the Phillies are the only team in baseball who have not yet made a roster move involving a pitcher this season. One is coming Sunday, as Ranger Suarez is set to make his season debut, but it's a testament to how they approach pitching health that they are in this spot.
But there is something else to consider as far as Luzardo is concerned - and that was pointed out publicly by a couple of people - one you may not have heard of, the other you may have.
Lance Brozdowski is a player development analyst for Marquee Sports, but pre-pandemic, he worked as a video analyst for Driveline.
He pointed out after the opening weekend of the season that Hawk-Eye, the in-ballpark tracking system that measures everything from player movement to spin rate on a baseball, had identified pitchers who had made arm angle changes from 2024 to 2025. And there were five very notable names atop the list of pitchers who have lowered their arm angle. Take a look:
Looks like we have some arm angle data on Baseball Savant! 👀
Here are the biggest risers (higher arm) and fallers (lower arm) on four-seamers specifically compared to 2024. #MLB
Data is incomplete, missing yesterday's slate. pic.twitter.com/kd3nXI2RRG
Garrett Crochet, Cole Ragans and Paul Skenes are considered among the wave of elite young arms in the sport. Luzardo ranked fifth among all pitchers in a lower arm angle on their delivery.
The other name, and the one you may have heard of, is Trevor May.
May - who was a Phillies draft pick back in 2008, but never pitched for the team - carved out a 10-year career pitching for the Minnesota Twins, New York Mets and the (nee: Oakland) Athletics.
May now has an entertaining YouTube Page, and he took Brozdowski's tweet and broke it down into layman's terms. May looked at the arm angle fallers, and equated them with documented medical studies that are showing the benefits of throwing at a lower arm angle.
The video is worth a watch. Here it is:
But is it helping these pitchers?
Luzardo's numbers above speak for themselves, but how about those other guys ahead of him.
Here's their starts to the season:
Other than Kikuchi, they are all off to decent or strong starts. Does that have to do with their change in arm angle, though?
"I consciously made an effort to drop back down," Luzardo said. "It's closer to where I was in 2023, which was a fully healthy season. I felt really good that year and my arm didn't give me any issues. And then (the arm angle) raised last year with my back problems. I was just trying to find myself and the body positioning might have raised it. I think my body is in a better spot now that my arm drop is back down."
Part of what precipitated that was Luzardo adding a new pitch to his arsenal - a sweeper.
Jesús Luzardo, Dirty 86mph Sweeper. ✝️🦎 pic.twitter.com/T7lSGz4q4p
Here's Brozdowski's assessment of the sweeper from his informative Lance's Pitcher Notes substack:
The pitch is 86.8 mph with 2” vertical break and 7” glove-side movement. This is 4-5 ticks harder than the average sweeper with 5” less glove-side. The velocity is enough to let this grade out as an above-average pitch. The interesting angle is that he threw the pitch more than his bullet slider and changeup to right-handed hitters (22%). We don’t see a lot of lefty sweepers against righty hitters (~5%). Given it’s a new pitch, I wonder how much it worked through shock factor vs actual pitch quality and the long-term viability of the approach. 🧹
What will help Luzardo, regardless of his sweeper’s success, is his added velocity. His fastball sat 96.9 mph, up 1.7 mph from his average last year. It was his hardest average four-seam fastball velocity since August 2023. His slider and changeup were up 2-3 mph as well.
"Because he was working on the sweeper this offseason, we knew it was happening," said Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham. "The ball doesn't lie. So... it's probably something to be said for how he's throwing the ball now. We should log this as the blueprint to kind of compare against, because things change, too. Your body changes, the mobility profiles change, and he's been really good. Generally, if you tell me a guy's going to throw it at a little lower slot, you probably want that."
Cotham said Luzardo isn't alone. He said Cristopher Sánchez is throwing from a lower arm angle this season as well, although Cotham was adamant that this wasn't a thing the Phillies are asking of their pitchers. But rather, using it as an identifier if it's indicative of when they are pitching their best.
"I'd like to say we have an answer," Cotham said. "But it's a really tough one to be certain about. You're always trying to nudge things in your favor, but it's really tough to tell a player, 'Hey, you should throw like this.' Now, we can maybe say, 'When you feel your best, or you are recovering your best, here's what the profile is."
One guy who has always thrown from a lower arm angle is Aaron Nola. He's arguably the most durable pitcher in baseball. He's always seen value at throwing from a 3/4 angle.
"Our job is not just pitching, it's to stay healthy," Nola said. "I've always believed our job pertains not just to pitching. It's an all-day job. When we're in the clubhouse. When we're not throwing. We have to try to learn our bodies and also educate our bodies. What gets sore? How to stay healthy? How to keep strong throughout the season. I enjoy that part."
As for Luzardo, he's confident this minor change - reverting back to his arm angle from 2023, when he was more upright, and not tilting his upper torso to deliver his pitches - will be the difference between a heathy season and what he endured last year in Miami.
"My arm feels really good down there," Luzardo said. "It's a health thing. It's a feel thing for my pitches. I feel like I perform better at a lower slot and it's easier for me to get there."
