Philadelphia Phillies' Jesus Luzardo won't be pitching in the World Baseball Classic, and the pitcher has a fair reason why.
The World Baseball Classic is all about showcasing baseball’s top talent while they compete and represent their country.
However, one of baseball’s best pitchers from a year ago won’t be participating in the WBC, and that’s Philadelphia Phillies starter Jesus Sanchez.
Even though the pitcher received invitations to compete in the Classic, he ultimately chose not to, and for a good reason.
“Yeah, for me, it was obviously a tough, decision for me, It's super importantto represent Venezuela; my family's from there,” explained Luzardo during a recent interview with MLB Network.
“It was a tough decision, [but] going off of a career high innings last year and a career high in workload, looking forward to a free agent year. I thought it was the most intelligent decision to kind of bypass the classic. Unfortunately, it was something, again, a super hard and super difficult decision, but I felt like it was the most intelligent one.”
Feb 28, 2025; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at BayCare Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn ImagesLuzardo is coming off a 2025 season in which, as he said, pitched a career-high 183.2 innings. He’s also thrown 427 total innings over the last three seasons. That’s a lot of
Even though the WBC is a tremendous opportunity for players, their MLB contracts is where they make a living for themselves and their families.
Right now, Luzardo will get paid $11 million for the 2026 season, which is well below market value considering he has a 3.92 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, with a strikeout rate of 28.5 percent and a walk rate of 7.5 percent.
With another year of those stats, Luzardo could very well be in the Cy Young conversation and set himself up for a massive payday next winter, contingent on his staying healthy.
If Luzardo were to sustain any sort of injury during the WBC, that could completely derail his plans of performing during a contract year.
Even though Luzardo won’t be competing in 2026, he isn’t shutting the door on ever pitching in the Classic, saying, “Hopefully, in 3 or 4 years, I'm able to do it again and represent Venezuela.
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