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After parkland shooting, a prospect finds sanctuary in the arms of baseball

Forst asked if Patterson, the minor league pitching coordinator, had spoken yet to Jesus Luzardo, one of the team’s top prospects...

Forst asked if Patterson, the minor league pitching coordinator, had spoken yet to Jesus Luzardo, one of the team’s top prospects, who would soon report to camp. There had been a shooting in Parkland, Florida, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Luzardo’s alma mater and where he throws in the winter.

“Give him a call now,” Forst told Patterson. “Don’t wait.”

Luzardo was unharmed; he wasn’t there. He had been running late, finishing up on the golf course with a friend when the Douglas baseball coach texted him a warning to stay away from campus because an active shooter was on the grounds. Luzardo was planning to throw to hitters on the high school baseball team that day and had hoped to arrive just after classes ended. The rampage claimed 17 lives.

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“I went home, but it was a mess. Just chaos all around Parkland,” Luzardo said last week, in an interview at the Athletics’ minor league complex. “I started texting some of my buddies on the baseball team. One of my real good friends, his little brother is a guy I grew up with, because he was a catcher. I texted him right away; he told me he was locked in a room, hearing gunshots. Another buddy of mine — basically like my brother — his little sister hadn’t answered him in a while, so everyone was on edge.

“Thankfully, most of my good friends, they got responses from their family and their friends. But then again, there were other people I know that weren’t that lucky.”

When Patterson reached Luzardo, he told him he would understand if he needed more time before reporting to camp. Luzardo made it on time, anyway, but arrived in Mesa with a plan to help.

Luzardo knew three of the victims, including the school’s athletic director, Chris Hixon. He started a YouCaring Page where almost $10,000 has been donated to support the college scholarship at Douglas that Hixon’s family is establishing in his name.

“He was always there. Just a great guy,” Luzardo said. “A lot of people say this, but he would legit give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He’d help you out. He was strict on certain people when he needed to be but in a good way. He’s one of those people that really cared for the kids.

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“He always helped me out when I needed it and put me on the right path.”

Luzardo said he did not know the alleged gunman, Nikolas Cruz, and did not think he ever had a class with him, but he did recognize his face.

Luzardo, 20, graduated from Douglas in 2016, when the Washington Nationals drafted him in the third round. He and a teammate — third baseman Colton Welker, a fourth-round pick by Colorado — were just the second and third players selected from the school since 2007, when the Boston Red Sox took Anthony Rizzo, now the star first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, in the sixth round. (The Marlins took an infielder, Adam Kam, in the 50th round in 2009.)

Rizzo had already reported to spring training when the attack occurred, but he flew home to speak at a vigil.

“It’s a great school,” Rizzo said. “It’s a good community with good people. In any place, anywhere, you’re going to have a couple of kids that are breaking the rules or not doing what they’re supposed to do. But for the most part, it’s a very disciplined, well-run school.”

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Rizzo said he was heartened by the continued activism of Douglas students.

“I’m very proud of that,” he said. “It’s not on the front page anymore and the kids are still going and making a difference.”

Luzardo, who admires but has not met Rizzo, said he tries to stay out of politics and declined to give an opinion on what could be done about school shootings. But gun violence has shaken him before.

“Almost all of my family is from Venezuela,” said Luzardo, who was born in Peru because his father worked there but left for Miami as a toddler. “You hear about the violence and the guns and everything being such a problem over there. But you never expect it to hit home, especially since Parkland was rated the safest place in Florida right before that happened. Growing up, I would have never thought of hearing gunshots in Parkland.”

Hixon, who was 49, served in the U.S. Navy for 27 years. He was prepared for the unthinkable.

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“He just went right in,” Greg Richardson, the school athletic trainer, told CBS Miami. “He was watching the cameras and just jumped in his golf cart and went right to the scene.”

Luzardo had heard about that, too.

“It sounds like him, honestly,” he said.

The Douglas baseball team won the Class 9A state championship in Luzardo’s senior year, though he hurt his elbow in the fourth inning of his fifth start. He felt a pop in his arm, and then a burning sensation in the dugout between innings. He tried to warm up but could not throw.

Luzardo needed Tommy John surgery, ending his high school career. Considered a first-round talent, he knew he would fall in the draft. While Luzardo’s classmates played basketball in gym one day, Hixon — a substitute teacher for the class — sat with Luzardo and offered encouragement.

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“He told me, ‘This isn’t the end of the world. You’re a great athlete.’ All that stuff,” Luzardo said. “I was down after I got hurt, and he helped me get out from the dumps.”

The Nationals looked past the injury and gave Luzardo a $1.4 million bonus, well above his slotted value as the 94th overall pick, to persuade him to turn down a scholarship to the University of Miami. Last July they traded Luzardo to Oakland in a deal for veteran relievers Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson.

Luzardo thrived in a carefully controlled debut season, pitching 12 minor league games with a 1.66 ERA, logging 43 1/3 innings with 48 strikeouts. He is ranked among the top 100 prospects by MLB.com (No. 60) and Baseball Prospectus (No. 88), with a fastball between 94 and 99 mph, and a quality change-up and breaking ball.

Patterson said Luzardo reminds him of Johan Santana, the former Minnesota Twins and New York Mets left-hander. Luzardo said Santana was his favorite pitcher growing up.

“It’s like he’s already pitched seven years in the big leagues,” Patterson said. “He is so mature and poised for his age.”

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Luzardo has pitched in one major league game this spring, working a scoreless inning, and spends his days in relative obscurity, down the street from the main A’s stadium with the other minor leaguers. He is far from home, and while he loves Parkland, he is happy to be here. Baseball is a sanctuary.

“When I came out here, I just kind of needed to get away a little bit,” Luzardo said. “Sometimes, when you’ve got a lot in your head, when you pitch, it kind of all goes away. I just lock in, and it releases everything.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

TYLER KEPNER © 2018 The New York Times

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