Luzardo star of show with ‘electric' performance with against live hitters originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The intensity ramped up significantly during the third day of full squad workouts at Phillies spring training.
Jesus Luzardo, Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter faced live hitters on Wednesday morning, putting on a show for the fans in attendance at BayCare Ballpark’s main field.
And make no mistake – Luzardo was the star of the show.
“He was really, really good,” said Brandon Marsh, who struck out looking against Luzardo. “You couldn’t see any of his spins, which is hard for a hitter. His fastball was electric, it exploded. He gave me a really good sequence and you just tip your cap to him.”
So how do you hit Luzardo when he has all of his pitches working?
“You don’t,” Marsh said. “Short and sweet, you don’t hit him when he’s on. When he hits his spot and puts it where he wants to, he’s as good as they come. That was really, really exciting to see that out of him today.”
Luzardo was flat out dominant in his first live session of the spring, keeping hitters off balance with a dizzying combination of his high-90’s fastball and lethal breaking pitches.
“I felt great,” Luzardo said following Wednesday’s workout. “Just commanding the zone and commanding all of my pitches. When you check those off early in camp that’s obviously huge. The rest just comes with experience throughout camp. But health and command are the two big ones for me for my first live (session). It was a nice little boost of confidence going into games soon.”
Luzardo’s performance caught everyone’s attention, including his manager.
“Luzardo was, I mean, really good,” Rob Thomson said. “Everything about it.”
It begs the question – how much better can Luzardo be this year following a 2025 season during which he set career-highs in starts, wins, innings pitched and strikeouts?
“I’m looking forward to this year,” Luzardo said. “Last year was great. But I’ve got a lot of work to do this year.”
Evaluating Nola and Painter
Nola and Painter weren’t as dominant as Luzardo on Wednesday but they each attacked hitters from the outset, something that tends to be rare for the first live session of the spring.
“They haven’t seen hitters in five months,” Thomson said. “Typically 60-65 percent of the time, pitchers walk the first hitter they face. It’s fascinating. These guys didn’t do that. They went right after the hitters. Nola’s command was really good. He threw some backdoor cutters to lefties that hit the spot. Changeup was really good, fastball was really good.”
Painter allowed quite a bit of loud contact to several hitters. It didn’t appear to be a particularly great live session for a young player whose every move this spring will be met with heavy scrutiny.
But overall Thomson was impressed with Painter’s outing.
“His stuff was good, his control was good,” Thomson said. “He threw a lot of strikes and filled up the zone. He missed some spots early (in the session) but he commanded the ball better late.”
Pitching Plans
Thomson announced that righthander Bryse Wilson will start the Phillies’ first Grapefruit League game of the spring on Saturday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin. The 28-year old Wilson signed a one-year contract with the Phillies in the offseason. He posted a 6.65 ERA in five starts and 15 relief appearances for the White Sox last season.
The Phillies will go with a bullpen game in their spring home opener against the Pirates on Sunday. Thomson noted that Taijuan Walker will likely start next Wednesday at home against the Tigers. Walker will be the first member of the Phillies projected starting rotation to see game action this spring.