Jul 23, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) reacts against the Boston Red Sox in the fifth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
To get to the Major Leagues and find success, baseball players need to be more than uber-talented. There needs to be more to it than an elite skillset at the art of hitting a baseball, or throwing one with pinpoint precision.
The thing that makes a difference between just getting to the show and sticking in it with enough success for a good career, are supreme confidence and a fearlessness that you will not fail.
Then, sometimes things happen that make you question that confidence. That suddenly makes you worry that you're not as good as you once thought you were.
As Buffalo Springfield once sang in "For What it's Worth": "Paranoia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep."
In baseball, when you can't control that paranoia and it manifests itself like Mogwai that got wet or was fed after midnight, that's what they call "The Yips."
It's a mental malady that creates doubt and dread in the mind. It strikes at the most unexpected of times and has impacted some very good ballplayers in some very bad ways.
Ask Jose Altuve about throwing the ball in the 2020 ALCS. Or Jon Lester about throwing the ball to first base from the pitcher's mound. The names of the victims of the Yips are plenty and cautionary tales. Steve Sax. Chuck Knoblauch. Macky Sasser. The list goes on and on.
Some overcome it. Others don't.
Dale Murphy had an excellent career after shifting positions and becoming an MVP-winning outfielder in Atlanta. Rick Ankiel had a rebirth as an outfielder after succumbing to the Yips as a pitcher. Daniel Bard has a pretty cool story about retiring and coming back years later as a very good reliever. Altuve overcame his problems the very next season.
So, while dreaded, it is conquerable.
Jesús Luzardo needs to know and understand that. Because what is happening to him — and it happened again in the blink of an eye on Wednesday — has taken down many athletes, but has also been eradicated by some as well.
Luzardo's "Yips" are occurring when he pitches out of the stretch. Out of the windup, he's been All-Star quality this year. Out of the stretch, he's been a total mess.
He's tried everything from changing mechanics, to studying video to see if he was tipping pitches, to changing gloves and hand positions. To modifying timing. None of it has worked.
In the span of eight batters and a little more than 10 minutes Wednesday against the Boston Red Sox, Luzardo went from pitching a no-hitter to coughing up a five-run lead.
Yes, there was a misplayed popup in there that would have ended the inning without any damage on the scoreboard at all. And arguments abound that manager Rob Thomson should have gotten him out of there sooner, and Thomson said after the game that in retrospect it could have happened a batter or two sooner.
Rob Thomson: “I should have probably gotten him up a little bit earlier, so that’s on me.” pic.twitter.com/3QCUQZdGhn
But that's all for narrative-driven nonsense.
Luzardo was pitching well. He had allowed one base runner through the first four innings on a walk, and had six strikeouts, four groundball outs and one flyball to the opposite field.
In short, he was cruising.
Then in the fifth, he gave up a leadoff double, and when he went into the stretch, with a runner behind him at second base, you could see it on his face. The doubt was creeping in.
Can they see his grip and relay signs to the batter what's coming? Are they communicating information another way? This is, after all, an Alex Cora-managed team. The underhanded activities to gain an edge in a game are frequent when he's involved.
And when things have been going as poorly as they have for the past two months for Luzardo when he pitches out of the stretch, any simple brain worm that embeds itself in your head can cause an implosion.
"I don't know what happened," manager Rob Thomson said. "[Maybe] he lost his concentration. Are they picking something up on him? I don't know."
For Luzardo's part, he's starting to wonder if anyone was ever picking something up on him, or if it was just him.
"I'm not really sure if that was ever a problem at this point," Luzardo said of the possible pitch-tipping. "I just think it needs to get right."
He also insists it's not mechanical. It's not physical. He feels as good as he's ever felt physically.
"My stuff is the best that it's been my whole career," he said. "It's not a stuff problem. It's more command - making the right pitch at the right time. Executing pitches. There's no excuse. It just needs to happen now."
Maybe Luzardo just needs to get out of his own head when he's faced with a runner or two on base. Just clear the mind. Don't think. Let the rhythms of his body and years of repetition take over. Hear his catcher's voice in the PitchCom and throw the pitch and see what that does. Rely on instinct and not feeling. Be cold-blooded and not emotional.
Because we've seen what he can do when he's at his best. And it wasn't that long ago. Now it just needs to be reapplied.
Clear the mind. Stop letting the gremlins multiply in there.
Or else the season will be lost.
