Aug 28, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo walks in from the bullpen at Citizens Bank Park. (Grace Del Pizzo/On Pattison)
There's been conflicting information online about who represents Phillies' lefty Jesús Luzardo. OnPattison is now able to offer some clarity.
Multiple people with knowledge of the situation confirmed to OnPattison that Scott Boras is not the southpaw's agent, despite some outlets citing him as the 28-year-old's representative.
At one point, Luzardo was represented by the Boras corporation, as he hired the sport's most powerful agent back in July of 2018, when he was a prospect in the Athletics organization. That's perhaps where the confusion comes from.
However, he lasted less than a year with the Boras corporation before switching to MVP Sports Group in May of 2019.
And then after this past season, Luzardo departed MVP Sports Group to join Roc Nation Sports, a move that the company announced in November in a post that for whatever reason didn't get a ton of traction:
Welcome to the Roc fam, Jesus! 💎 pic.twitter.com/cjd3DPDmhK
Roc Nation is an agency founded by Jay-Z in 2008. In terms of stars in the baseball world, they represent Albert Pujols, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Pat Murphy, Robinson Canó, Marcus Stroman and Todd Frazier, per their website.
This is all particularly relevant considering Luzardo is entering a contract year. Luzardo went 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA, 2.90 FIP and 216 strikeouts across a career-high 183 2/3 innings during his first campaign with the Phillies, finishing seventh in NL Cy Young Award voting. If he's able to replicate that campaign or even take another step forward, Luzardo projects to be one of the top alternatives on the market to two-time defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal next offseason.
At the same time, Luzardo was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft, and the Phillies are already his fourth organization, along with the A's and Miami Marlins. Plus, he has a bit of an injury history. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2016 when he was still in high school. Left elbow tightness and a lumbar stress reaction limited him to just 12 starts in 2024. Before he was traded to the Phillies, the Cubs actually had a deal in place to acquire Luzardo, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic says Chicago nixed it "after a review of his medical records."
He could bet on himself, but there are also some things in Luzardo's background that make him an interesting extension candidate. Earlier this month, OnPattison examined what the framework of an extension would look like for Luzardo, which feels notable after Ranger Suárez departed in free agency last week. Boras clients almost never sign extensions before free agency, but since we have now confirmed Luzardo isn't represented by Boras, it's a conversation worth continuing to have as Spring Training approaches.
