Dave Hyde: The hometown kid ready for ‘surreal’ Opening Day with the hometown team

Jesus Luzardo Sr. once picked up his son early from St. Andrew’s Catholic School in Coral Springs for a Marlins’ Opening Day. They arrived early enough to watch batting practice from the lower deck before retreating to their seats in the upper deck.

“Nose-bleed seats,’’ Jesus Sr. said.

This was 2009 when they were the Florida Marlins, not the Miami Marlins, and played in Miami Gardens and not downtown Miami. But the details don’t matter, because everything was so far in front of young Jesus, then 10, that he didn’t look down at starting pitcher Ricky Nolasco and consider being in that spot someday.

“I was a fan,’’ he said.

But someday arrives Thursday as Jesus Luzardo delivered on his own dreams and developed his own talent to become a unique story for the Marlins’ Opening Day: The hometown starter for his hometown team.

“Surreal,’’ is the word he uses for this day.

More than any Marlin on the roster, as much as any Marlin ever, Luzardo’s journey is a local one in a manner only South Floridians understand. Jesus Sr. and wife Monica moved from their native Venezuela as part of his job with Motorola, first to Peru, where Jesus was born, before settling in Parkland.

Jesus played on youth teams from Coral Springs to Boca Raton. He attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and, two years after graduating, raised more than $10,000 for the family of athletic director Chris Hixon, who was killed in the 2018 shooting at the school.

Now he needs 65 tickets for family and friends for the Opening Day of a team he was among the first generation of fans to support. He even attended the 2003 World Series at 6, wearing matching “National League Champions,” jerseys and caps with his father.

His jersey number throughout his youth was the No. 9 of his favorite player, Marlins outfielder Juan Pierre. Position aside, Pierre is a proper prism to see who Luzardo grew up to become as a player, too. Smart. Disciplined. Humble. With the kind of work ethic that coaches remember.

“He was so serious about working,’’ said Oscar Bustamante, who coached him for several years on the West Boca Panthers travel team.

“A tremendous worker,’’ said Todd Fitz-Gerald, who coached Luzardo in eighth grade at American Heritage and high school at Douglas.

If Luzardo’s talents are rare, his Broward story is as common as boy meets ball. He was 4 or 5 when given a foam bat and ball to play around in the family’s Parkland home without breaking anything. He set up bases in his bedroom and drafted family members to play with him.

All the normal stops of T-ball, coach-pitch and youth leagues followed. He joined a travel team, the West Boca Panthers, at 8 and played with them most years until he was 14. It was a local powerhouse, as every player later played in college or signed professionally. But Luzardo already stood out.

“Jesus was an ace from the beginning,’’ Bustamante said. “One thing I can tell you is he learned how to pitch when he was really young. The reason is because he didn’t pitch fast. He wasn’t a flamethrower.

“So he had to learn how to pitch. That change-up he’s got, he learned that when he 12. He couldn’t get away with just throwing heat, because he didn’t have the heat. That’s the best thing that could’ve happened.”

Bustamante went with players and parents, including the Luzardos, to Marlins games. He still plays pickleball with Jesus Sr. and attends every start of his son in Miami. The coach texts Luzardo after each start, too, congratulating him after a good game or, once after a bad start, simply writing, “Next.”

“If he’s not busy, he’ll text me right back,’’ Bustamante said. “That’s just who he is. He’s humble. He doesn’t forget a guy who coached him when he was a kid.”

Luzardo started as a freshman at Douglas for Fitz-Gerald, “getting a little taller, a little stronger every year,’’ the coach said.

Between his junior and senior years, added work and size accelerated his fastball from the low-90s mph to, “up to 97-98,’’ his father said. “He got a jump of 5 mph in about six months.”

Suddenly, a baseball future opened up to him. He signed with the University of Miami. Pro scouts crowded Douglas High practices and games to watch him and teammate Colton Welker. The two were friends since playing for Bustamante’s West Boca Panthers. Welker briefly made the major leagues with the San Francisco Giants in 2021. They now run a free youth camp each winter at Douglas.

“One time we had 15 scouts out watching them and they were going live at-bat against each other,’’ Fitz-Gerald said. “Jesus threw a 96 mph heater, and Colton turned him around for a double. Jesus, next pitch, buzzed the tower on Welker. Right at him. Stuff like that told you how much Jesus competed.”

Four games into Luzardo’s senior year, he lost 15 mph off his fastball as a game went on and realized he had suffered a serious injury. His high-school career was done. Tommy John surgery followed.

“A heartbreaker for him and for us,’’ Luzardo Sr. said.

Not everything changed with his injury.

“He was in the dugout every game, cheering his teammates on all the way to us winning a national title,’’ Fitz-Gerald said. “That’s just who he is. He was a big part of that team.”

The other constant was professional interest in him. Luzardo was the third-round pick of the Washington Nationals in 2016, who traded him a year later to the Oakland A’s.

He made his major-league debut for Oakland in September 2019, even pitching in a playoff game. He had an unsettled role and 4.97 earned-run average when the Marlins traded veteran outfielder Starling Marte for Luzardo in the summer of 2021.

“At a low point,’’ Luzardo called his confidence at that time.

It soon built back up. In 2022, he was the Marlins’ fifth starter with a 4-7 record and a 3.32 ERA while working 120 innings. He stretched that to 208 innings last season in posting a 10-10 record and 3.58 ERA.

Now he’s Thursday’s Opening Day starter against Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller. In 2018, they were the starting pitchers for the Futures Game before the All-Star Game.

Now, for the hometown kid, the future has arrived with the hometown team.