A’s Jesús Luzardo forced to adapt as a kid. Now his stuff is ‘almost unfair’ - SFChronicle.com

The next, next big thing.

“Growing up, Jesús wasn’t the biggest kid on the team, he was one of the shorter kids, so he had to develop command and feel for the offspeed,” said Luzardo’s father, who also is named Jesús. “I think that was an advantage for him: He learned to pitch without the advantage of the fastball. And then he got the velocity when he grew. He needed a different approach — a lot of the big kids depended on the fastball and he didn’t have that luxury.”

A’s rookie Jesús Luzardo earns save in another impressive outing - SFChronicle.com

Impressive indeed.

Source: A’s to call up No.1 prospect Jesus Luzardo for stretch run

Jesús Luzardo’s highly-anticipated major league debut appears to be on the horizon.

The A’s will call up their top prospect from Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday. MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos was the first to report the move.

Luzardo, 21, is ranked as the No. 3 left-handed pitching prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline and the No. 18 overall prospect. He has put together back-to-back excellent starts for Las Vegas, combining to allow just two runs in 11 2/3 innings with 17 strikeouts and two walks. In seven total starts for Las Vegas this year, he went 1-1 with a 3.19 ERA.

As a side-note, the Las Vegas team was just eliminated from the Pacific Coast League playoffs- I have no idea if it did (or should) have influence on the A’s decision, but the timing makes it seem like it wasn’t a coincidence.