Jesus Luzardo Sidelined With UCL Injury

Jesus Luzardo, one of the top pitching prospects in this year’s high school class and a Preseason High School All-American, has injured his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and might have torn the ligament.

The lefthander was off to a strong start this season, with his fastball sitting comfortably in the low 90s and reaching as high as 97.

Luzardo sent an email to scouts Thursday confirming the injury, saying that he has “been advised that (he) may have a torn UCL in my left elbow.” An MRI exam revealed the injury after Luzardo left his most recent outing after three innings due to soreness. He will seek a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews on March 21, and if that meeting confirms the tear, Andrews will perform the surgery on March 22.

Luzardo ranked as the No. 13 prospect in the Preseason high school rankings, and was likely to move up in the next version of the rankings. At his best, Luzardo has shown outstanding pitchability, a plus fastball, a plus changeup and a sharp, slurvy breaking ball. He is committed to Miami.

Luzardo is not the first potential first-round pick to tear his UCL in his draft year. In 2014, East Carolina’s Jeff Hoffman went ninth overall to Toronto and Erick Fedde of Nevada-Las Vegas was selected by the Nationals with the 18th pick, and both pitchers either required or were recovering from Tommy John surgery.

In 2012, the Nationals selected Lucas Giolito with the 16th overall pick, although they knew he needed the surgery, which he had that August. Last year, Cleveland used its first-round pick on Brady Aiken—also the No. 1 overall selection in 2014 who did not sign with Houston—who had also had elbow ligament replacement surgery. Several teams have already expressed interest in drafting Luzardo.

Luzardo is the second Miami commit to go down this season. Catcher Miike Amditis is also out this spring after tearing the labrum in his throwing shoulder.