A past friendship helps Marlins reliever A.J. Puk get acclimated with his new team
It didn’t take A.J. Puk long to spot a familiar face.
As he made his way to the back fields of the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex in Jupiter on Wednesday for his first workout since being traded to the Miami Marlins, he quickly saw Jesus Luzardo, a former teammate from their days together with the Oakland Athletics and a fellow left-handed pitcher. The two forged a bond over a three-year stint with Oakland before Luzardo was traded to Miami at the 2021 MLB trade deadline.
Less than two years later, the friends are teammates once again, with Miami acquiring Puk from Oakland on Saturday in exchange for outfielder JJ Bleday.
The timing of the trade wasn’t the easiest for Puk. He was getting settled into his place in Arizona for spring training with the Athletics when he found out he was traded. He arrived in Jupiter on Tuesday and took part in his first workout with the team on Wednesday, where his throwing partner was none other than Luzardo, his good friend and former teammate in Oakland.
“We’ve always kind of joked around about playing with each other again,” Puk said, “and then for it to happen just two years later, it’s kind of crazy. I never thought it’d be that quick or ever again, so I was excited.”
The Marlins as a whole are excited, too. Puk, a towering 6-7 lefty whose fastball averages about 96 mph and his slider has huge swing-and-miss potential, adds yet another high-leverage reliever to a Miami bullpen that also includes lefties Tanner Scott and Steven Okert as well as righties Matt Barnes, Dylan Floro and JT Chargois.
“It’s a good problem to have,” pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said of the bullpen. “It’s something I would say that we’ve missed. We’ve put a lot of tension on the rotation and we’ve got our rotation to the point where they’re ready to win. We’ve got to nail some games down.
Luzardo is excited. He has seen Puk’s development up close over the past few seasons and knows the value he brings if he stays healthy and has steady command.
According to Statcast, Puk’s 27-percent strikeout rate last season ranked in the 75th percentile among all qualified pitchers and his 29-percent swing-and-miss rate was in the 72nd percentile. He has been using a three-pitch mix, weaving in a four-seam fastball that averages 96.7 mph and sinker that averages 96.1 mph with a mid-80s slider, but Puk said he has been working on both a splitter and cutter this offseason with the anticipation of possibly moving into Oakland’s starting rotation before the trade.
“He’s found his stride,” Luzardo said. “He’s comfortable in the role that he’s at. Obviously, the stuff’s electric and he works really hard. There’s no ceiling for him.”
And Puk himself is ready to build on his best season in the majors yet. After throwing just 24 2/3 combined innings at the big-league level over the 2019 and 2021 seasons, Puk made 62 appearances for Oakland last season. He pitched to a 3.12 ERA and held hitters to a .217 batting average while logging 76 strikeouts against 23 walks in 66 1/3 innings.
“It was definitely big for me personally,” Puk said. “I know there were some question marks. I had some tough luck going for me. I always knew I could go a full year and just had the rough patch to start my career. Now, I’m feeling good, really healthy right now.”
And he’ll have someone to confide in as he gets acclimated to his new team in Luzardo.
Their friendship started shortly after spring training in 2019 when both were rehabbing injuries. Puk was coming off Tommy John surgery. Luzardo, who was traded from Washington to Oakland during the 2017 season, sustained a rotator cuff injury during camp.
“We were both pretty frustrated at the time with baseball and how it was going,” Luzardo said, “but I felt like that made us close and gave us a connection.”
Puk offered for Luzardo to stay at his place, where he had an extra bedroom, while the two rehabbed.
Eventually, they went from rehab partners to teammates on Oakland’s big-league roster. Puk debut on Aug. 21, 2019. Luzardo made his debut exactly three weeks later, Sept. 11, 2019. They remained roommates over the course of the following two seasons until Luzardo was traded to Miami.
“We became pretty good buddies throughout the years from that,” Puk said. “Even when he was traded, we were still talking and communicating quite a bit. ... It’s been a relationship and real happy to be here.”
Where exactly will Puk fit into the Marlins’ bullpen pecking order? That will be decided over the next six weeks during spring training. But his presence — along with the other handful of high-leverage relievers — gives Miami more flexibility.
“It creates a much deeper bullpen, with some guys with swing-and-miss stuff at the back that’s going to give our manager some nice options,” Stottlemyre said. “We’re probably going to mix and match back there. They’ll step up and define their roles as we go, but [we have] some guys that have experience back there and it’s a much better feeling going into the spring with those guys that we have back there. Lots of options.”
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