An already disappointing Marlins season took a flip for the more severe Thursday, as MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola tweets that an MRI revealed a torn ulnar collateral ligament in high pitching prospect Max Meyer’s proper elbow. He’ll endure Tommy John surgical procedure within the close to future and miss the rest of the 2022 marketing campaign in addition to the majority of the 2023 season.
Meyer, the No. 3 general choose within the 2020 draft, skyrocketed by the Marlins’ system and made his debut earlier this month, yielding 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings of labor. His subsequent outing lasted simply two-thirds of an inning earlier than he exited because of elbow discomfort that despatched him to the injured checklist. He’ll now spend the rest of the season and the vast majority of the 2023 marketing campaign on the Main League injured checklist, accumulating MLB service time and pay for the time spent rehabbing.
Previous to that rocky huge league debut and subsequent harm, Meyer was universally thought to be one of many sport’s brightest pitching prospects. The previous College of Minnesota ace breezed by Double-A final season and was even higher in a 10-inning take a look at Triple-A final yr, logging a mixed 2.27 ERA with a 28.6% strikeout price in opposition to a 9.2% stroll price in 111 innings.
The 23-year-old Meyer roared out of the gates in 2022, logging a 1.72 ERA and 39-to-9 Ok/BB ratio in his first 31 1/3 innings, overpowering opponents with an upper-90s heater and devastating slider alongside the best way. He struggled by a pair of terrible outings in late Might with Triple-A Jacksonville, nonetheless, in the end occurring the minor league injured checklist because of what the staff termed irritation of the ulnar nerve in his proper forearm. He got here again sturdy — 2.11 ERA over his subsequent 5 begins — and appeared to be again on monitor for this month’s huge league debut.
Whether or not Meyer had a tear previous to his huge league promotion or didn’t maintain the tear till one in all his two MLB outings, he’ll now be sidelined for the following year-plus. A return late within the 2023 season stays believable, however that’s hardly a given. Each restoration is completely different, in fact, however pitchers usually take nearer to 13 or 14 months to return from Tommy John surgical procedure. As an illustration, we’re about one yr to the day faraway from Tigers righty Spencer Turnbull present process his personal Tommy John process, and the group only in the near past introduced that Turnbull gained’t return this season. If the Marlins are in rivalry in 2023, maybe they’d push the envelope and take some danger to get Meyer again as a bullpen choice late within the yr, however they’ve each cause to be cautious with the flamethrowing righty, given how necessary a task he might play of their future.
Meyer joins fellow high prospects Edward Cabrera (elbow tendinitis), Sixto Sanchez (2021 surgical procedure for torn anterior capsule in his shoulder) and Jake Eder (2021 Tommy John surgical procedure) on the injured checklist. Miami has additionally seen 2021 Rookie of the Yr candidate Trevor Rogers take a large step again in his sophomore season. It’s all a superb reminder — significantly at a time of yr when followers and groups alike are cautious of buying and selling minor league pitching — that as simple as it’s to dream on touted younger arms , the attrition price of pitching prospects is an unyielding roadblock that groups perennially wrestle to navigate.
