The Marlins introduced this afternoon that right-hander Eury Perez is experiencing elbow soreness and is about to endure imaging and testing over the course of the approaching days. Jon Heyman of the New York Publish provides that a part of the membership’s diagnostic course of can be a visit to Texas, the place Perez will meet with famous orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister. Earlier this week, Perez was pulled from a Spring Coaching begin after simply 14 pitches as a consequence of discomfort attributable to a damaged fingernail.
It’s a brutal blow for the Marlins, who’ve been ravaged by rotation accidents this offseason. Sandy Alcantara underwent Tommy John surgical procedure again within the fall and is about to overlook the whole 2024 marketing campaign, and since then each Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera have handled shoulder points that would relegate them to the injured record to start the season. Now Perez seems all however sure to open the common season on the shelf as properly. Whereas the severity of the 20-year-old phenom’s particular difficulty is unsure, considerations relating to the elbow are significantly ominous as a consequence of the potential for a prolonged absence.
Elbow surgical procedures can typically wipe out a pitcher’s whole season, as is the case with Alcantara, and even non-surgical rehab can take a pitcher away from sport motion for months at a time, as was not too long ago demonstrated by Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. Even in one of the best case situation, the time spent figuring out the extent of Perez’s harm figures to set him again as he seems to be to construct up his pitch rely for the common season. Perez’s aforementioned fingernail difficulty has restricted his means to arrange for the approaching season this spring, and with simply two weeks till Opening Day and the right-hander prone to be sidelined for not less than a number of extra days, it’s laborious to think about him with the ability to keep away from not less than a short stint on the injured record.
With Perez, Cabrera, and Garrett all not less than prone to becoming a member of Alcantara on the injured record to open the season, that leaves southpaw Jesus Luzardo as the one member of the membership’s on-paper beginning rotation who’s presently anticipated to be accessible on Opening Day. Southpaw A.J. Puk was already broadly anticipated to start the season within the membership’s rotation after the membership made the choice to stretch the lefty out regardless of his success as a high-leverage arm within the membership’s bullpen final yr, and the accidents additionally appear prone to open the door for the likes of Trevor Rogers and Ryan Weathers to step into rotation roles because the season begins. That might nonetheless depart the fifth spot within the membership’s rotation vacant, nonetheless, although right-hander Bryan Hoeing represents one possibility already on the 40-man roster and the membership has loads of potential non-roster choices at its disposal together with Yonny Chirinos, Vladimir Gutierrez, and Devin Smeltzer.
After all, none of these potential depth choices might be fairly anticipated to ship the type of impression that Perez gives. The righty, 21 subsequent month, was a consensus top-15 prospect in all of baseball when he made his debut for Miami final yr, and he instantly flashed the front-of-the-rotation potential that his prospect pedigree prompt as he dazzled with a microscopic 1.34 ERA and a stable 3.02 FIP in his first 9 begins within the majors. He struck out 29.2% of batters confronted throughout that stretch, and whereas midsummer struggles led the membership to restrict his workload down the stretch the teenager nonetheless options prominently within the membership’s plans for the 2024 season and past. A lot so, in actual fact, that Perez was typically considered the membership’s sole untouchable as they fielded commerce gives on the likes of Garrett, Luzardo, and Cabrera through the offseason.
The rotation accidents have been a serious blow to a Marlins membership that’s trying to construct upon a stunning postseason look in 2023. The membership’s beginning pitchers ranked prime ten within the majors final yr in ERA, FIP, and fWAR whereas putting out the fourth-most batters in all of baseball. That dominant run prevention equipment was key to the membership’s success final yr because the lineup lagged behind, rating simply twentieth within the majors with a collective wRC+ of 94. With so many accidents impacting the membership’s rotation already this yr, the workforce will want sturdy efficiency from the likes of Luis Arraez, Josh Bell, Jake Burger, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. if the membership hopes to return to postseason rivalry in 2024.