Touted young Marlins right-hander Eury Perez has been diagnosed with inflammation in his right elbow and will begin the 2024 season on the 15-day injured list, per Craig Mish and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Surgery has not been recommended, but Perez will be sidelined for several weeks while the inflammation calms down. It’s a tough loss to begin the season though far from a worst-case scenario for the Marlins and their fans, who were bracing for the possibility of a more serious injury when Perez went for an MRI after experiencing elbow soreness.
Still just 20 years old (21 in April), Perez made his big league debut in 2023 and immediately looked like he belonged. In 91 1/3 innings, he pitched to a 3.15 earned run average while striking out 28.9% of his opponents against a tidy 8.3% walk rate. He’d previously been touted as one of the very best pitching prospects in the sport, and that type of production against big league opposition before even turning 21 years old did little to sway that thinking.
It’s an immense relief that surgery isn’t on the table for now, but the Marlins will still be without Perez for a yet-to-be-determined period of time. The length of his absence will presumably dependent on how his elbow responds to the recent shutdown period. Only time will tell how quickly that inflammation might clear up. Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald tweets that Perez will test his elbow playing some light catch this weekend, which could provide some more information.
Miami already announced left-hander Jesus Luzardo as the team’s Opening Day starter. Beyond that, the group won’t look much like the team envisioned throughout the offseason. That’s due in no small part to Perez’s injury but also because both Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera will start the season on the shelf due to shoulder issues. The Fish resisted trading from their stock of young arms this offseason and are likely glad they did so, given the injuries that have cropped up in camp.
Luzardo figures to be followed by former NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Trevor Rogers, reliever-turned-starter AJ Puk, and former Padres first-round pick Ryan Weathers. Rogers is looking for a bounceback after a pair of injury-plagued seasons. Puk was a starter in college and the minors but was pushed to the ’pen due to a series of injuries. The Marlins acquired him from the A’s in exchange for JJ Bleday last offseason and got a strong season of relief out of him; they’ll now try to stretch the big lefty out. Weathers came to the Fish in last summer’s Garrett Cooper swap with San Diego. He’s been an up-and-down depth arm with shaky results in the big leagues and Triple-A alike but was the No. 7 overall pick back in 2018.
If and when the Marlins need a fifth starter early in the season, that role could fall to righty Bryan Hoeing. He’s still in big league camp, while other 40-man options like Max Meyer, Darren McCaughan and Roddery Munoz have already been optioned out. Miami also reassigned non-roster pitchers Yonny Chirinos and Devin Smeltzer to minor league camp yesterday, ending their potential bid for rotation spots.
The Fish, of course, will be without ace Sandy Alcantara for the entire 2024 season. The 2022 National League Cy Young winner underwent Tommy John surgery in early October and will miss the entire 2024 season as a result. He’s expected back in 2025.
Rest up, young man!
Yah…the Student Loan Shark Legacy continues. Every year at least one pitcher we draft on our Scoresheet team goes down. We joke about sending out condolence cards during the draft; “we apologize for drafting you – the odds just went up you are going to be injured at some point in the next few months. Best of luck, SLS.”
26 Man Keeper League, we draft to 45 Man Roster- I’m down Eury, Gavin & Devin Williams, Buehler, Stephenson, McClanahan, Gausman and finally Sandy Alcantara (all Keepers). I’m dancing on thin mound ice this year! Fortunately my position side is healthy-to-date. Pain.
And they went easy on him last year to try and prevent this.
Inflammation can occur at any time. I remember guys used to pitch through this with cortisone shots but I guess rest is the better course of action long-term now.
So you encourage 16-17 yr olds to throw 105
Then when they reach the majors you rest them half the season
Then they go down with elbow problems
When is mlb gonna learn??? How many injuries will it take??
@Johnny utah
MLB doesn’t care really. They encourage this behaviour because there is a significant amount of young players who want to make it to the majors. So, they’ll throw them out there as fodder and if they turn out to be decent, they get a number of years of cheap performance and some trade bait and if they aren’t good, it didn’t cost much and there will always be someone else to take his spot.
It’s only when the contracts for millions of dollars comes up that they start worrying about the health of their star pitchers.
In may we will hear he’s having Tommy John and he won’t pitch till 2026
Did you say same thing about Gerrit Cole, doc?
A sigh of relief was heard down in Miami.
…and by all Fantasy Owners! Phew!!
From Mattingly to Skip, these guys leave the young pitchers in too long and it’s killing their arms.
Then why were guys in years past able to throw so many innings a year and have long and effective careers? But now we are seeing guys barely able to get through 5 or 6 innings a start?
This is good news. And the guys we have left are more than capable of holding their own. We just need to crank up the bats and do a better job scoring runs. If we manage a .260 team BA and end up middle-of-the-pack in runs scored, we’re going back to the playoffs. Guaranteed. Does that sound overly optimistic? I just feel the Marlins are way underrated, and that last year was no fluke. Only time will tell if I’m right.