Marlins breakout righty Ronny Henriquez underwent UCL reconstruction with an internal brace, reports MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola. He’ll miss the entire 2026 season. Miami subsequently announced the news and added that he’s expected to be ready for Spring Training in 2027.
Henriquez was an excellent waiver pickup during the 2024-25 offseason. The Fish grabbed him out of DFA limbo from the Twins in February. Henriquez was coming off an impressive Triple-A season but hadn’t missed many bats in 19 career big league appearances. He was an intriguing flier as a 25-year-old former prospect of note who sat around 96 MPH with his fastball.
Miami needed to carry Henriquez on the active roster, as he’s out of minor league options. It didn’t take long for him to emerge as one of Clayton McCullough’s most trusted arms. Henriquez reeled off 73 innings of 2.22 ERA ball over 69 appearances. He picked up seven saves and 26 holds while only blowing four leads. He punched out 32.4% of batters faced behind a massive 16.7% swinging strike percentage. Henriquez ranked among the game’s top 20 relievers (minimum 50 innings) in strikeouts and whiff rate.
Henriquez added a tick to his fastball and took a little off his slider. He spun the breaking ball at a higher rate and got a little more depth on what emerged as a plus pitch. He showed no signs of slowing down towards the end of the season, turning in a 1.61 ERA in 28 innings after the All-Star Break. That came on his heaviest workload since he moved to the bullpen during the ’22 campaign.
Miami only had two relievers with 20+ innings who struck out at least a quarter of opponents: Henriquez and Lake Bachar. They had five bullpen arms who managed a sub-3.00 ERA but need to miss more bats as a group. Miami relievers were 24th in strikeout rate and swinging strikes. They’ve been linked to free agent righty Pete Fairbanks a few times this offseason. His strikeout numbers have declined over the past couple seasons, but even his 24% rate of the last two years would make him one of their best swing-and-miss arms.
Henriquez can be placed on the 60-day injured list once Spring Training begins. He’ll collect a full service year and be paid around the $780K minimum. He’s unlikely to meet next winter’s Super Two cutoff, meaning he’ll be slated for another league minimum salary in 2027. He’s under club control through 2030.
Ooof that’s rough. Speedy recovery there.
Brutal.
Modern baseball just chews pitchers up and spits them out.
Eh, I mean fifty years ago it wouldnt have even been diagnosed, let alone treated / repaired.
Dudes weren’t blowing out their elbows constantly back then.
Source?
It was revealed to me in a dream.
So I can’t provide evidence, but I will point to a guy that pitched crazy yearly innings as I’m familiar with the franchise. Jim Palmer, and to this day I have no idea how you throw over 300 innings in a single year, let alone do that 4 times. Let alone throw 270+ 8 times. Obviously he’s a HoF guy so he might just be built different. But the game is markedly different from how it used to be. I see a lot of opinions pointing at the spin pitchers put on their pitches and I can’t disagree outright. You would think that medical technology advancing to the point it is now would help identify risk factors. But I am neither a major league pitcher or a decorated physician so my opinion merely comes from observation and hypotheticals. But the real thing to do here is just to wish the man a speedy and healthy recovery so he can get back to doing what he loves.
I imagine everyone understands the risk and is willing to take it for maximum production. In the past pitchers weren’t throwing at maximum overdrive every pitch.
True, back then it was more about “pitching” rather than “throwing” in general it seems. Not that you can’t go back and forth between the two, but nowadays it does seem to be more max effort every single pitch until you burn your arm out. At some point, in general, pitchers need to understand the stress of all of the force and motions that their deliveries will put on on their wrists/elbows/shoulders/forearms/etc. Everyone wants to earn the big bucks for sure, but understanding your body and how it reacts to what you’re doing is far more key to a long career.
It was revealed to me in a dream.
Seems legit then.
Nolan Ryan also threw over 300 innings during a couple of seasons, 299 in another, and threw over 270 5+ times. Those were different times, before pitchers started being coddled in bubblewrap. And he was max effort every pitch, for 27 years of MLB service. (Including his initial cup of coffee, which was only 2 games in 1966.) He pitched into the 1990s. No bubblewrap required for health or longevity.
Bad timing. Should have gotten it done in September.
Probably injured it ramping up for the 26 season.
Still better than happening in April/may
Average TJ recovery is twelve months so a September surgery probably wouldn’t have gotten Henriquez back for 2026. Medical team would have assessed and tried other means before deciding on this course of action.
Aaaand there goes the marlins season, sorry Ronny, you don’t deserve this
Dang. Was this previously announced or is this the first we’re hearing of it? Henriquez was very impressive last year.
His FIP and strikeout numbers were great, hopefully he’s back sometime in 2027 firing strikes again.
Faucher and Bender, next guys up
Sad for the Marlins.
Many waiver claims can turn into success. In 2025, two of the Astros bullpen figures were waiver claims (Kaleb Ort and Bennett Sousa). I’ve learned to love the waiver claims. Some don’t turn out well, some do. Henriquez was a great one and best of luck to his recovery. The Marlins are probably one of the top teams I want to come back to the postseason minus the Astros.
Cant have nice things.