Jesus Luzardo and the lessons that lasted: from Scherzer’s “pop quizzes” to a long-term bet in Philadelphia

CLEARWATER, Fla. — In the quiet grind of early-morning bullpens and winter workouts, jesus luzardo found himself getting tested in ways that didn’t show up on radar guns. Not long after his December 2024 trade to Philadelphia, the left-hander’s days at Cressey Sports Performance in Palm Beach Gardens began coming with sudden “pop quizzes” from Max Scherzer—rapid-fire prompts about how to attack National League East lineups.

What were Max Scherzer’s “pop quizzes” for Jesus Luzardo?

The setup was simple: two pitchers on similar winter schedules, seeing each other almost daily at the same training facility, with Scherzer deciding to turn proximity into preparation. Scherzer, a Toronto Blue Jays right-hander who spent parts of nine seasons in the National League East, went team by team and hitter by hitter—asking how Luzardo would pitch to specific division opponents, then stopping him when he didn’t like the answer.

“He would just pop-quiz me, ” Luzardo said. “‘What are you going to do to the Braves lineup?’ ‘What are you going to do to the Mets lineup?’ And I would say it, and he’d go, ‘Nope, wrong. That’s not it. This is how you’re going to do it. ’ And then we’d go back and forth. But a lot of times, he was right. ”

Eric Cressey, owner of Cressey Sports Performance, described why the exchange clicked. “Max likes to teach, especially for someone who wants to be great, ” Cressey said, “and asks the right questions. And I think that’s where he and Jesús have really hit it off. ”

Their rapport has its own language—shared trash talk and a familiarity built over years around the game. Luzardo, 28, jokes about Scherzer’s age, calling him “grandpa” and “unc. ” Scherzer fires back by needling Luzardo for pushing “max effort” into the dead weeks of the offseason, including ribbing him for long toss in December. Beneath the jokes, the point is blunt: pace matters, and so does thinking beyond the next workout.

Why did the Phillies move to keep Jesus Luzardo long term?

On March 9 (ET), the Phillies and Jesus Luzardo agreed on a five-year contract extension that will keep the left-handed pitcher in Philadelphia through 2031. The agreement was disclosed by Jeff Passan, an MLB insider at.

The extension arrives after a 2025 season in which Luzardo delivered the volume and impact Philadelphia expected after acquiring him in a winter trade with Miami. He tied a career-high with 32 starts, led the staff with 15 wins, threw a career-best 183 2/3 innings, and set a personal record with 217 strikeouts. For the Phillies, the durability carried particular weight given that 2024 was injury-riddled for him and ended in late June after left-elbow tightness and a lumbar stress reaction, with an ERA north of six.

His year wasn’t a straight line. Through his first 11 starts, Luzardo posted a 2. 15 ERA. Then a May 31 outing triggered a ten-start stretch with an 8. 04 ERA, the worst mark in baseball over that span. The issue was pitch-tipping, and the splits underscored it: with runners on base in that stretch, opposing hitters batted. 418 with a 1. 263 OPS against him; with the bases empty, they hit. 235 with a. 598 OPS. Once identified, he fixed it—his final 11 starts produced a 2. 84 ERA and a 2. 65 FIP.

In October, there was also a moment that framed his makeup under pressure. In Game 2 of the National League Division Series, facing the Dodgers’ Blake Snell with the Phillies needing a strong outing after a tough defeat the night before, Luzardo delivered: six-plus innings, three hits, two runs, five strikeouts, and a stretch of 17 consecutive retired batters. He later came out of the bullpen on short rest in Game 4 and struck out three more. Philadelphia lost the series, but Luzardo’s performance landed as something the club could build around, even after he carried a 7. 71 ERA across three previous postseason starts.

What changed inside the season, and what does it say about preparation?

There’s a clean symmetry between the winter “pop quizzes” and the in-season correction that followed. The questions Scherzer pressed on—specific plans, opponent by opponent—were about intention. The pitch-tipping stretch was the opposite: a period where the smallest tells became loud enough for major-league hitters to punish. Luzardo’s response was not to deny the problem but to identify it and adjust, stabilizing his season down the stretch.

The human part of it is less cinematic but more familiar: a player learning to separate urgency from panic. Scherzer’s teasing—why go full throttle in the doldrums of December—carried what Luzardo described as a “kernel of wisdom. ” The idea wasn’t to work less. It was to think longer.

That arc also sits against the personal timeline Luzardo described at Cressey: earlier in his career, he was trying to make a strong impression on a new club and later spent offseasons trying to earn a spot on a big league roster. The mentoring he’s receiving now is framed around something different—staying good, staying available, and holding up when the calendar turns and the stakes rise.

What happens next for Jesus Luzardo and the Phillies?

In the Phillies’ camp in Clearwater, the routines continue: bullpens, workouts, meetings, the repetition that turns winter ideas into spring habits. But the meaning shifts once a player is no longer simply passing through on a year-to-year horizon. A five-year extension through 2031 changes how the organization can plan and how the pitcher can measure progress: not as a sprint to the next contract year, but as a longer sequence of adjustments and accountability.

Back at the training facility in Palm Beach Gardens, the scene that began this story—two pitchers crossing paths almost daily, one pressing the other with division-specific questions—now reads like an early draft of what Philadelphia has decided to buy. Not just innings, not just strikeouts, but a version of jesus luzardo shaped by hard questions in quiet places, and by the willingness to hear “Nope, wrong, ” then keep working until it’s right.

Image caption (alt text): Jesus Luzardo during offseason training as the Phillies commit to him long term.