‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Jesús Luzardo on why every strikeout costs $100, his supportive parents, and more

Luzardo has gotten off to a strong start on the mound and off the field with his charity work. He discussed both in the latest episode of "Phillies Extra."

Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo goes into Tuesday with a 1.50 ERA in three starts.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Scott Lauber

Published April 15, 2025, 10:04 a.m. ET

As first impressions go, it couldn’t get much better for Jesús Luzardo with the Phillies.

When he takes the mound Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park, Luzardo will take with him a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings. He also has 25 strikeouts, the third-highest total for a pitcher through three starts with the Phillies after Vince Velasquez (29) and Jim Bunning (28) and ahead of Steve Carlton (24), Cliff Lee (23), and Roy Halladay (21).

Good company, isn’t it?

But it goes beyond pitching. Two weeks ago, he announced a partnership between the Jesús Luzardo Family Foundation and the Boys & Girls Club of Philadelphia. Luzardo sat down with Phillies Extra, the baseball show from The Inquirer, for a wide-ranging conversation. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation, which has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Watch the full interview below.

Q: You’ve been with the Phillies for all of four months, and yet, during your first homestand with the team, you announced an initiative called Striking Out Barriers in which your foundation will donate $100 per strikeout to the Boys & Girls Club of Philadelphia. Can you explain how this partnership came about and why it meant so much to you to establish it so soon into your tenure here?

A: Yeah, for me, giving back to the community, it’s just something I’ve always been passionate about since I had a chance to. And now, using the platform that I have, thankfully, I’ve been able to start doing that back home in South Florida.

I started a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Broward County back home. I visited a bunch of clubs over there, and just to see their involvement in the community and how they help the kids and just the community in general, all that they do in helping these kids out and growing them and making them into adults. And they do so many great things.

So, I was just excited to get to work with them back home. And now, going to Philadelphia, this is a new home for me, and I wanted to help out here as well any way that I can. For me and my family, I think it’s important for us, and I’m happy to be able to do it.

Q: Tell me a little bit about the Jesús Luzardo Family Foundation. From everything I’ve read, it seems like the mission is to help children in underserved communities and people with special needs in Miami and South Florida. What made you decide to use your platform as a major leaguer to get involved in this way?

A: Yeah, like you said, community involvement in general, any way that I can. But for me, the specifics are people with special needs and kids in underserved communities. Just something that I feel close to my heart. Something since I was a little kid that’s always kind of stood out to me. And for no specific reason, it’s just something that when I would see it, it kind of hit me in the heart, makes me feel bad about it and makes me want to help any way I can.

So now that I’m in this position to give back and help, I would love to. And not even just the financial standpoint, but just going, being present. Back home, I would do a lot of our foundation work with the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital and the Boys and Girls Club and Arc Broward, which is a resource for people with special needs, and just being present. I think that goes a long way to just showing that you care, that you’re there with them, spending time with these kids, with these people, that all they want is to spend some time with you.

It’s always nice to see their smile and how their face lights up when they see a major-league baseball player walking in through the door and realizing that I’m just like them. I’m just another guy. I just want to spend some time with them and make their day if it’s possible.

Q: Your parents were at your first home start and you said they’re going to be at a lot of them. That’s not typical for every player. What’s it like for you to have them with you?

A: Yeah, it’s huge. I can’t even put words behind it. It’s just, they’re my rock. Good start, bad start, doesn’t really matter. It’s always the same routine. After the game, I’ll go and talk to them, and they know how to handle it. Now, after a bad start, I might be a little more frustrated. We might just go home, and after a good start, we might go get a bite to eat, but I always love them for that. It’s an unwavering support and love for me. No matter how I do on the baseball field, they always treat me like their son. I love them for that. I’m appreciative. They take a lot of time out of their schedule to come out and see me and be with me during my starts and support me. I couldn’t be more thankful.

Q: There’s another cause that’s close to your heart. You support the Chris Hixon Foundation, named for your late athletic director at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and one of the 17 victims of the shooting there in Parkland, Fla., on Valentine’s Day in 2018, two years after you graduated. What can you tell us about Chris and the impact that he had on you? And how much was your commitment to philanthropy shaped by the events of that day?

A: I feel like that kind of jump-started it all because I was still young at the time that we started that and helping give back to that foundation. But for me, Chris was a mentor. He was our athletic director. My senior year, I blew out my elbow pretty early in the year and [was] just kind of frustrated throughout the year, having to go watch the games, but still obviously wanted to be a good teammate. He’d see me walking around through the school and just had my brace on and just kind of knew where I was at mentally and how I was frustrated at times. And he was just a good mentor, kind of kept it light with me. I always found the light, the positive side to things and he helped me view things differently.

Unfortunately, what happened happened in 2018, and he was a hero trying to go and save the lives of a lot of other people. That kind of just jump-started it for me. It made me think of how he helped me, and I’m sure he helped a lot of other kids go through. He was an athletic director at multiple schools, not just Stoneman Douglas. So for me, it was, I need to give back somehow the way that he gave back to me. Even if I can’t be there present, be a mentor. There’s some type of way that I can help.

His wife and his family created the Chris Hixon Foundation, and we always love supporting it. They do a 5K every year during spring training, and my family goes there. A bunch of people going for the foundation and being able to sponsor the event and help out but just being present and supporting. That’s such a great event.

Q: Did I read that you were actually on your way to the school that day to work out with the team when your former coach called and told you what happened and to stay away?

A: Yeah, I was on the way. I think it was like two days before I was going to report to spring training and I was going to go through a live BP to some of the guys because I knew a lot of the guys there still. And some of them started texting me, ‘Hey, don’t come, don’t come.’ I had the coach text me: ‘We have an active shooter.’ I didn’t really understand what was going on at the time, and then later on because I lived down the block. So as I was getting closer to home, I started understanding, there’s something wrong. And when all the news came out, obviously it was heartbreaking for the community and so many families in the area. So it wasn’t a great day, unfortunately, for a lot of that community.