Miami Marlins Jesus Luzardo Leading the staff, with one big help

The Miami Marlins starting pitchers this season have been inconsistent at best but Jesus Luzardo has been leading the pack when it comes to consistent starts. Luzardo has gotten some very specific help in his starts that other starters on the Marlins roster would envy, but he has also had only 2 bad starts of his 11. Those two bad starts are not nearly as bad, however, as the rest of the Marlins starters.

Luzardo was brilliant last night against the Anaheim Angels going five innings with seven punch outs. He gave up seven hits, one earned run, and one walk and one of those innings he struck out the side including Trout and Ohtani. Luzardo has had two starts where he has given up as many runs (one was 5 innings 6 runs) as he has pitched innings but other than those two, he has given up three or less and has been a force. In the month of May he has had three starts where he gave up only one run.

Jesus Luzardo's ERA currently sits at 3.67, but has been as low as 3.16 this month whereas the rest of the Marlins starters have the following ERAs: Alcantara 4.86, Cabrera 5.05, Garrett 4.50, and in a handful of starts Perez is at 3.86. Prior to his start last night, Luzardo led the team in strikeouts at 63 and was second in walks with 18.

Luzardo's biggest help, in addition to his quality pitching has been Jorge Soler, who has hit 10 home runs in Luzardo's 11 starts. Soler is the main run producer in the Marlins lineup and so a main contributor to his 4 and 3 record. Luzardo's numbers across the board are better than his career averages but some are down from last year. Luzardo has struck a balance in hit percentages that works, as he is significantly down on line drive percentage at 21.6% and is a little lower on ground ball percentage compared to his average.

The biggest improvement has been his hard hit percentage is down below his last two years at 38.6. Luzardo is contracted through this year and is arbitration eligible starting next season, so Kim Ng might want to look at signing him to a three year deal to avoid arbitration, as he has been excellent to start the 2023 season.