LOS ANGELES — Most of left-hander Jesus Luzardo's family is Venezuelan, but he was born in Peru, where his family lived for a couple of years, drawn there by his father's job. He moved to South Florida when he was a year old, and as he grew up playing baseball his family would tease him: As far as they knew, no one born in Peru had ever made the major leagues.

“They were saying ‘You should be the first,'?” Luzardo said. “Messing around with me about that and how I could do advertisements in Peru.”

Luzardo's representatives checked with Major League Baseball, which had no record of a Peruvian-born player ever playing in the big leagues. In fact, they could not find a Peruvian-born player drafted since 1990. The Washington Nationals chose the 18-year-old in the third round of this year's draft. Though he was committed to Miami, he chose to go pro, passed a physical and signed his deal with the Nationals on Monday for a signing bonus of $1.4 million, according to a person familiar with the situation. His slot, the 94th overall pick, was assigned a value of $635,800.

Luzardo, listed at 6 feet 1, has a fastball in the low 90s and was one of the most highly regarded high school left-handers in the draft before undergoing Tommy John surgery in late March. Until his injury, most prognosticators projected him as a first-round choice.

“It was definitely tough, but it was probably just that one tough day,” Luzardo said. “After that, I got a lot of support from my family, and it was kind of just like, ‘I got to get past it. There's nothing I can do now.' I just had to move forward.”

He will report to the Nationals in Viera, Fla., today, and will continue his rehabilitation under their supervision — an factor that played into his decision to go pro in the first place.

“Being drafted by the Nationals, they're a great team,” Luzardo said. “And they've had a lot of great pitchers come back after Tommy John.”

Luzardo is not throwing yet, just strengthening, but knows exactly when he was told he could begin playing catch: July 12, about 31/2 months after surgery. He joins a long list of high-profile Nationals picks who fell in the draft because of injury — Lucas Giolito, Erick Fedde, etc. Should all go well with his rehab, the Nationals could have snagged a third first-round talent without having to use one of their first-round picks.