Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins during spring training at BayCare Ballpark. Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- St. Patrick's Day is a sight to be seen at BayCare Ballpark.
Fans pack it in so tight, the building has to be up against it for fire code purposes. It's an event. A happening. But on this day, it was cold.
That's right. Cold.
The air temperature topped out at 61 degrees but the wind was something else entirely. It was whipping around the park. It certainly had to make it one of the chilliest St. Patty's Day celebrations for the Phillies, who traditionally throw one heck of a baseball party on this day every year.
But that wind...
"[It] made some of the pitches move a little funky today," said Jesus Luzardo.
But that's probably a good thing.
Because in a little over a week, baseball games that matter will be played at Citizens Bank Park and the temperature there should be similar to what the Phillies experienced during a 2-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.
And speaking of Luzardo — he was pretty locked in.
In what was his penultimate start of the spring, Luzardo threw five scoreless innings allowing five hits and a walk while striking out five over 77 pitches.
It was a clean, efficient outing, and the first since he was signed to a 5-year, $135 million extension.
"I've heard from people that I probably haven't heard from in 15 years," Luzardo said. "That's probably the craziest thing, but besides that, nothing really has changed (since signing the contract.)"
Well, except for one thing.
Luzardo has changed up his change-up.
What used to be a circle change is now a split-change. The reason — movement.
"It's the culture that everyone wants to chase the most movement and I think that's a pitch that creates a lot of movement. Maybe the circle change was a little more traditional way to change speeds, but this kind of incorporates a little of both."
Luzardo threw more change ups (25) than any other pitch against the Twins. It induced 13 swings and five whiffs, which is pretty substantial.
Jesús Luzardo today:
5 IP
5 H
0 R
1 BB
5 K
77 pitches (49 strikes)
10 swing & misses
Max velo 98.6 mph
Plus some nice defensive hustle… pic.twitter.com/rxLcMvwLdq
By comparison, in his career, Luzardo has thrown his change up 17.3% of the time. On Tuesday, he threw it 32% of the time.
Now, you can't read too much into that as pitchers are always tinkering with things in Spring Training, and it seemed like a gameplan to take it for a test drive against the Twins and see what worked and what didn't.
"It's coming along," Luzardo said. "It was something that was a key focus for me this offseason and in the spring. We're kind of pushing it a little more than normal and today there was a little more swing and miss, which is positive for me."
Only five changeups were put in play, and only one of them resulted in a hit -- a single by Brooks Lee.
What Luzardo and catcher J.T. Realmuto were doing were figuring out the best times to use it in their pitch sequencing.
"I don't want to give away the secrets, but it's just setting it up properly after certain pitches," Luzardo said. "Maybe to a certain hitter that struggles with that pitch, or a guy with a certain type of swing. There are a lot of things that go into it — maybe after a certain take, whether it's something high, something away, or something down."
Either way, while it's not a new pitch for Luzardo, how he throws it, when he throws it and with what frequency he throws it are going to be both new and exciting for the Phillies.
"It's nasty," said manager Rob Thomson. "It goes down. There's a lot of swing and miss. His command of it is really good."
And it's going to be a weapon.
Luzardo will get one more tune-up before the regular season. Thomson said he will start the final Grapefruit League game on Monday.
And while Thomson said he'd hold off until tomorrow to announce the rotation for the start of the season, it's starting to seam like it's set.
Christopher Sánchez will make his final spring start on Friday, which likely lines him up for Opening Day.
Aaron Nola will pitch Sunday, a day before Luzardo.
So, one would think that Nola will pitch between Sánchez and Luzardo in the opening series against the Rangers to split up the lefties.
Andrew Painter will make his final spring start on Wednesday. Taijuan Walker could go Thursday on regular rest, but Thomson has not yet announced a starter for either Thursday or Saturday's games, so where Painter and Walker fit into the equation remains to be seen.
