Jesus Luzardo’s Rough Start Is Becoming a Phillies Concern

It’s early in the season for Jesus Luzardo, but early enough to say that he has not lived up to the $135 million contract the Phillies handed him right before the start of the 2026 season.

The left-hander has a 7.94 ERA in his first four starts. He has given up five runs or more in three of those four starts. He’s allowed 28 hits in 22.2 innings and has a WHIP of 1.46, which is something that can not be happening during a time in which the rotation and offense are already sliding.

What makes Luzardo’s starts especially troubling is that he just unravels in an inning, and once runners get on base, he implodes. Take the start against the Diamondbacks, for example: after not allowing a hit for the first four innings, he gives up five hits and five runs in the fifth, and can’t even make it out of the inning. The start against the Cubs was the first time he gave up eight or more runs multiple times in his Phillies career. The only other pitcher to do that was Hall-of-Famer Robin Roberts. 

Luzardo is not just giving up the occasional crooked inning or two. He is losing control of entire stretches and is unable to finish outings, which has put pressure on the Phillies, who go quiet once an abundance of runs has been given up.

His pitches have been good; his results have not. His fastball consistently touches 97-98 miles per hour, and his sweeper and changeup are very good when he’s locating properly. But when he’s not on his game, that’s when the implosion happens.

“Just kind of the same stories all year,” Luzardo said. “I felt like they put some good swings on a couple good pitches. I feel like the [three-run] third inning was just an unfortunate series of events. … It was a mixed bag.”

The clearest explanation so far has been his inability to pitch effectively once runners get on base. Opponents have hit just .220/.258/.271 against him with the bases empty, but that number jumps dramatically to .441/.472/.765 when he is working with runners on, and that’s a very concerning split, which shows how manageable starts can turn into damaging starts. 

The bigger problem appears to be execution in those moments. When runners get on base, Luzardo has not been able to make the one pitch he has needed, and that not only puts him in a hole but his team as well. The offense behind him has given him little to no life support, so he is forced to rely on making the right pitch, or else it will most likely change the course of the entire game. 

These similar issues affected Luzardo in 2025. In a start against the Brewers in June, he was left out there to crumble as the Brewers tagged 12 runs on him. The next start against the Blue Jays, he gave up eight runs. Coming into that start against the Brewers, he was fantastic and a legitimate candidate for Cy Young. He had a 2.15 ERA, and after those two starts, it rose to 4.46. He ended the year with an ERA of 3.92, but if you take away those two starts, his ERA ends up at 3.03. This shows that Luzardo has the Cy Young stuff, but it can be severely inconsistent. 

Even in his first start, it was a hint that his problems from 2025 were coming back to haunt him. Luzardo allowed two home runs in the third and fourth innings, and by the time the fourth inning was over, it was 5-0. It was an early sign that hitters could be doing more damage against him than they had a year earlier. Right now, there’s no explanation.

During Luzardo’s rough stretch in 2025, teams found he was tipping his pitches. After rectifying the issue, he returned to his Cy Young form we saw in his first eleven starts in 2025. If the issue isn’t pitch tipping, the Phillies will have to look at something more mechanical or situational. His velocity is great, and he has the swing-and-miss stuff, but it could be a matter of tempo or command. Whatever the issue is, it has shown up too often to be a concern.

There is still time for Luzardo to turn his issues around, and one month of a bad track record isn’t going to ruin a season. A few clean starts would immediately make the numbers look more normal as he returns to his dominant form. Early April has changed the conversation around him. The Phillies are waiting to see if Luzardo can give them competitive innings again, and to limit the damage with runners on base, but if those problems continue, his poor play will be one of the defining storylines early in the Phillies season. 

Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox: