Eury Pérez (elbow soreness) to visit orthopedic surgeon

The Miami Marlins' pitching depth has gradually dried up over the course of spring training, but Saturday brought the most deflating setback of them all: Eury Pérez experienced right elbow soreness following his most recent start (as first reported by the New York Post's Jon Heyman). He'll be visiting Dr. Keith Meister to be evaluated further.

Pérez lived up to his top prospect hype during his rookie season, posting a 3.15 ERA, 4.11 FIP and 1.4 fWAR in 19 major league starts last year. After logging 128 total innings between Double-A and MLB, the hope was he'd be able to stick in Miami's rotation for practically all of the 2024 campaign. Instead, he'll join Braxton Garrett (left shoulder soreness) and Edward Cabrera (right shoulder impingement) on the season-opening injured list.

The 20-year-old Pérez was unable to take part in the 2023 Marlins postseason run due to SI joint inflammation. However, he seemingly reported to spring training in perfect health. He exited his March 2 start prematurely after suffering a broken fingernail. He completed 3 ⅔ innings on March 8, relying almost exclusively on fastballs and curveballs to avoid aggravating the injury. Aiming to pitch even deeper into his start this past Wednesday, Pérez recorded only one out before being taken out. At the time, the Marlins described it as a precautionary decision related to his nail.

Dr. Meister is a renowned orthopedic surgeon. He performed Tommy John surgery on Sandy Alcantara last October. It's not yet clear whether Pérez has any UCL damage.

The projected Marlins rotation was previously expected to include Pérez and left-handers Jesús Luzardo, A.J. Puk, Ryan Weathers and Trevor Rogers. Among 40-man roster arms, right-hander Max Meyer ought to be first in line for a starting opportunity. If the Marlins insist on sticking with their original plan to option Meyer to Triple-A Jacksonville, that cracks the door open for non-roster invitees such as Yonny Chirinos, Vladimir Gutierrez and Devin Smeltzer. Although the revival of Sixto Sánchez has been an inspiring storyline this spring, he's only being viewed as a reliever for the time being.