Eury Pérez to have Tommy John surgery, miss rest of 2024 season

Eury Pérez's sophomore season is over before it even began. Miami Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix announced on Thursday that the ascending star right-hander will undergo Tommy John surgery.

Pérez had been on the injured list after experiencing elbow inflammation during spring training. Surgery was not recommended initially and he was cleared to restart a throwing progression. The 20-year-old had advanced to throwing bullpen sessions, but Craig Mish of SportsGrid reports that he felt elbow tightness on Tuesday and noticed a drop in velocity.

Dr. Keith Meister will perform the procedure on Pérez. He's the same doctor who operated on Pérez's mentor, Sandy Alcantara.

Starting pitchers typically need more than 12 months to return to competition following Tommy John, with younger starters being handled especially carefully. Pérez will not be ready by Opening Day 2025, complicating the Marlins' plans for next season. He will continue to accrue MLB service time throughout the rehab process (he had 113 days of service entering 2024).

In the meantime, their current campaign continues to be an abject disaster. The Marlins are 0-7 entering Thursday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals. FanGraphs estimates their playoff odds at 9.9% and that will only plummet further following the news of Pérez's extended absence.

The Marlins opened the regular season with a starting rotation of Jesús Luzardo, A.J. Puk, Ryan Weathers, Trevor Rogers and Max Meyer. Reinforcements are on the way in the form of Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garrett, both of whom are scheduled to make four-inning rehab starts with Triple-A Jacksonville this weekend.

Pérez was promptly transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL later on Thursday afternoon to create room on the 40-man roster for waiver claim UTIL Otto López.