Eury Pérez diagnosed with mild elbow inflammation; surgery not recommended

JUPITER, FL—More than a week after Eury Pérez initially experienced right elbow soreness, news broke Friday afternoon that the 20-year-old Miami Marlins starter has been diagnosed with mild right elbow inflammation, delaying the start of his sophomore season. This comes after Pérez met with Dr. Keith Meister, the surgeon who performed Tommy John surgery on Sandy Alcantara in October. Surgery was not recommended for Pérez and he'll attempt to rejoin the Marlins rotation later in 2024. He will begin a throwing progression by playing catch this weekend, per Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix.

Pérez entered the 2022 season as the organization's number four prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and then was at the top of the list in 2023. With their rotation down multiple starters, the Marlins called up Pérez shortly after his 20th birthday on May 12, 2023. He became the youngest pitcher in Marlins history when he debuted against the Cincinnati Reds.

Through his first 11 starts at the Major League level, the Dominican right-hander posted a 2.36 ERA and 3.69 FIP and opposing hitters slashed .208/.274/.401/.675 against him.

Pérez's workload was a huge storyline every step of the way. The Marlins had to figure out how to responsibly limit his innings considering his lack of experience and small workloads in previous seasons.

On July 7, the day after Pérez made a start against the St. Louis Cardinals, Kim Ng and the front office sent him back down to Double-A Pensacola to give him what was described as "a breather."

Pérez stopped throwing for a brief period, then made a few shortened minor league starts before being called back up on August 7. He ended up making eight more starts for the Marlins and posted a 4.26 ERA, 4.70 FIP and opponents slashed .221/.293/.457/.750. In September, he was placed on the injured list with left SI joint inflammation.

Pérez pitched a total of 128 MLB/MiLB innings, easily marking a career-high for him. The expectation for him entering 2024 was to spend close to a full season in the Marlins rotation.

However, Pérez suffered a broken fingernail during his March 2 start and left early. The Marlins tried to have him pitch through it rather than waiting for a full recovery. Then on March 13, he didn't even complete his first inning. It initially looked like a nail issue again, but the next day, he felt elbow soreness as well. The Marlins took steps to protect Pérez from overuse, but this is a reminder that pitcher health is complicated, especially when it comes to elbows.

The 2023 Marlins starting rotation primarily consisted of Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Eury Pérez, Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera. Luzardo is the only one of them who'll be available for 2024 Opening Day, as Garrett and Cabrera both battle minor shoulder injuries this spring.

Thankfully for the Marlins, Ryan Weathers and A.J. Puk have both had strong spring trainings. However, Weathers (career 5.88 ERA) is completely unproven in the majors and Puk has never been a starting pitcher at the MLB level. As nice as it is to have Trevor Rogers back, he only threw 18 innings in 2023 and has not yet regained the fastball velocity that made him an All-Star during his rookie season.