It’s gone from bad to worse for the Marlins.
On Thursday, the team announced that 20-year-old right-hander Eury Perez will undergo Tommy John surgery, ending his 2024 season.
This news came before Miami dropped its eighth straight game after a loss to the Cardinals on Thursday afternoon.
Last May, the Marlins called Perez up from Double-A Pensacola, and at the time of the promotion, Perez was the 13th-ranked prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline.
He went 5-6 with a 3.15 ERA and 108 strikeouts in just 91 1/3 innings as he emerged onto the scene as one of the game’s bright young pitchers.
He appeared in four games this spring training and posted a 3.38 ERA over eight innings.
But now, though, Perez will miss the entire season after not throwing a single pitch in the regular season.
“It’s been a bit of a roller coaster,” Marlins president Peter Bendix said, according to MLB.com. “Initially having the frustration of the elbow soreness and followed by the positive outlook on [thinking] you don’t need surgery right now. There was an understanding that the ligament was not in great shape and essentially, you can pitch with it until you can’t, and nobody knows when that’s going to be. You have to try and see when the symptoms return. And unfortunately, that happened now. Better now than in the middle of the season.”
The injury to Perez adds to Miami’s awful beginning to the season as they are now the only winless team in the big leagues after the Mets beat the Tigers, 2-1, in the second game of their Thursday doubleheader.
The Post’s Jon Heyman reported Thursday that Miami already looks like it could be sellers.
Before the season, the Marlins had talks with the Orioles about sending Jesus Luzardo to Baltimore, but those talks ended once the Orioles acquired Corbin Burnes.
Luzardo isn’t a free agent until the 2026 season, which would make him an intriguing trade chip.
In Thursday’s loss to the Cardinals, Miami’s pitching had some more problems.
Ryan Weathers started for the Marlins and had a solid outing, going five innings while allowing one earned run on three hits.
But it was the Marlins’ bullpen that was the issue, as Sixto Sanchez allowed two runs in just one-third of an inning.
Andrew Nardi fared no better, allowing two runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Miami’s pitching staff has allowed six or more runs in seven of its eight losses.
