An already disappointing Marlins season took a turn for the worse Thursday, as MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola tweets that an MRI revealed a torn ulnar collateral ligament in top pitching prospect Max Meyer’s right elbow. He’ll undergo Tommy John surgery in the near future and miss the remainder of the 2022 campaign as well as the bulk of the 2023 season.
Meyer, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 draft, skyrocketed through the Marlins’ system and made his debut earlier this month, yielding five runs in 5 1/3 innings of work. His next outing lasted just two-thirds of an inning before he exited due to elbow discomfort that sent him to the injured list. He’ll now spend the remainder of the season and the majority of the 2023 campaign on the Major League injured list, accumulating MLB service time and pay for the time spent rehabbing.
Prior to that rocky big league debut and subsequent injury, Meyer was universally regarded as one of the sport’s brightest pitching prospects. The former University of Minnesota ace breezed through Double-A last season and was even better in a 10-inning look at Triple-A last year, logging a combined 2.27 ERA with a 28.6% strikeout rate against a 9.2% walk rate in 111 innings.
The 23-year-old Meyer roared out of the gates in 2022, logging a 1.72 ERA and 39-to-9 K/BB ratio in his first 31 1/3 innings, overpowering opponents with an upper-90s heater and devastating slider along the way. He struggled through a pair of awful outings in late May with Triple-A Jacksonville, however, ultimately going on the minor league injured list due to what the team termed irritation of the ulnar nerve in his right forearm. He came back strong — 2.11 ERA over his next five starts — and looked to be back on track for this month’s big league debut.
Whether Meyer had a tear prior to his big league promotion or didn’t sustain the tear until one of his two MLB outings, he’ll now be sidelined for the next year-plus. A return late in the 2023 season remains plausible, but that’s hardly a given. Every recovery is different, of course, but pitchers often take closer to 13 or 14 months to return from Tommy John surgery. For instance, we’re about one year to the day removed from Tigers righty Spencer Turnbull undergoing his own Tommy John procedure, and the organization just recently announced that Turnbull won’t return this season. If the Marlins are in contention in 2023, perhaps they’d push the envelope and take some risk to get Meyer back as a bullpen option late in the year, but they have every reason to be cautious with the flamethrowing righty, given how important a role he could play in their future.
Meyer joins fellow top prospects Edward Cabrera (elbow tendinitis), Sixto Sanchez (2021 surgery for torn anterior capsule in his shoulder) and Jake Eder (2021 Tommy John surgery) on the injured list. Miami has also seen 2021 Rookie of the Year candidate Trevor Rogers take a massive step back in his sophomore season. It’s all a good reminder — particularly at a time of year when fans and teams alike are wary of trading minor league pitching — that as easy as it is to dream on touted young arms , the attrition rate of pitching prospects is an unyielding roadblock that teams perennially struggle to navigate.
That absolutely sucks and I say that as a fan of a rival team.
That’s tough, he just made it to the show. Hate seeings injuries, wish him the best of luck on his recovery.
Nabbed that 26 man spot and MLB salary by the skin of his elbow.
Was excited to see him and Sandy pitch in person against the Phillies in a few weeks. I’m hoping he comes back strong af when the Marlins should be a definite WC team
In 2024? Sure, the rebuild rolls on…
Wowwwww
Anyone want to help me on my English essay?
The topic is: using “The Great Gatsby” and “Hamlet” explain how the protagonists failed because they did not know themselves.
I need 2 quotes per paragraph and I need 3 topics…
Thank you very much, your service is greatly appreciated
“Gatsby or not Gatsby, that is the question”
To sweep, perchance to clean; there’s the rub.
All I remember from either book is when Daisy was mangled in the automobile wreck. Hamlet did not know that he was a lousy driver. Hope that helps, oblivious kid.
I believe in the green light, this orgasmic future that year by year recedes before me, the lady doth protest too much me thinks.
If pitch counts reduce injuries then why aren’t pitch counts reducing injuries
Because pitchers throw harder than they ever have before?
Because MLB has gone all in on analytics and sabermetrics. Hmmm…wonder how many TJs Nolan Ryan needed. Steve Carlton? And another…Greg Maddox. Two different styles, and lots of innings.
Need to go back to starters pitching CGs and not worrying about pitch counts. It’s not like the current system is working so what have teams got to lose? Money. The more you de-emphasize SP the less owners have to pay ’em. The marquee, top of rotation starter may becomimg a relic of the past. It’ll just be a bunch of guys throwing 4-5 innings at start of game then the BP takes over. Sad.
I never understood that argument. I’d a pitcher’s arm not exerting anything during the week? Warmups? Practice throws before the inning starts? Spring training games? Today pitches are never accounted for. But making sure you don’t throw too many during the game will surely save you from injury
Does this wipe out his rookie eligibility and keep the service clock ticking since he’s on the big league IL? Or does 60-day change that?
I believe it goes by days on the active roster, so he will most likely be a rookie in 2024. I could be wrong though.
IT goes by Innings Pitched….he will be a rookie when he returns, but am sure that is not his major concern
It goes by days on the Active Roster and/or innings pitched; 45 days and/or 50 IP, respectively (and it’s 130 AB for position players, if you’re curious).
He should be a Rookie when he comes back, but as noted, he will accrue service time the entirety of his IL time. So that’s at least a year of team control lost by the Marlins.
it goes by both actually. plate appearances, innings or time on active roster
That is such a bummer man. I think with all the injuries, Garcia having a horrible 1st year, soler as well, u gotta sell before Aug 1st. Get while the value is high for Lopez & Aguilar. Fish can contend again by 2024.
Again? They haven’t contended for years.
Terrible news for the Marlins and their fans. They’ve been waiting for Meyer and now will have to wait longer
Boo boo – happens to every team.
Having a bad day?
@Rsox
You can’t recognize that @You Can Put It In The Books was formerly @MetsFan22?
He has slipped multiple times to the point he doesn’t even hide it anymore…short of officially admitting it anyways.
Every arm on the Marlins is going to break trying to protect a 1-0 lead every day
That’s why you build offense first and then pitching
Notice how Nationals GM Rizzo did it. He added offense. Nelson Cruz, Jay Bell.
Because you can’t develop pitching properly if there’s no offense
Part of the reason deGrom is so great is because the Mets didn’t have much offense. He adapts to survive on 1-0 leads. But that puts tremendous strain on the body
I can’t wait until this trade deadline passes so I can get back to my life and get away from you people
You don’t have to click that little button that says “View Comments”. Just read the articles and go about your angry existence.
I can’t believe he’s not on the Tigers! Still, wish him a healthy recovery.
This is the cost of our newfound obsession with velo.
Can’t wait for the day when pitching philosophy goes back to pitch-to-contact like it was in the 70s and 80s. Hour and a half games because pitchers would work on angles rather than location
Alderson and moneyball forced everyone to start “hitting location” because nobody was swinging away anymore
Doesn’t matter if it’s 92 if the angle is tough to hit. Now it’s just throw as hard as you can at a spot and then throw a slider at the same spot
You nailed it. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
You might have a long wait. The supply of guys that throw hard probably won’t necessitate reverting to the pitch to contact strategy any time soon.
Hey, the Twins drafted a knuckleball pitcher, Cory Lewis in the 9th round of this year’s draft. Lefites Pete Hansen and Trey Dombroski were two pretty good draft prospects who are all about control/command and don’t throw harder than 92 MPH.
These kids are creaked
Todays winner of the Tommy John Surgery of the day!
Shoulders are career killers….elbows and TJ surgery are almost a right of passage to some of these young pitchers and they come back better from the time off and the ligament repair. Time for Miami to sell off some pieces like Okert , Wendle etc..
What is a pitcher supposed to do for two years while he can’t throw? Max Meyer will be making great coin but it will certainly be weird not having real work to do for two years.
Rehab is not work?
How many hours a day do you think he’ll rehab on average over that period of time? You can’t even start rehabing the elbow for the first six-ish weeks.
Guess he can always watch lots of film?
Yeah, I guess he can tinker with the projector to make sure it’s working.
Pitching philosophy is weak now. Nibble away at the corners and the fear of contact. The weak pitching philosophy leads to injuries
Back in the 80s most pitchers only threw 92 but they threw to a general area to try and induce contact
No strain to avoid contact by hitting a precise location on *every* pitch
Sure, sometimes they tried to hit a precise spot, but only when the situation called for it. Not on every pitch and every at bat
I can’t remember the last time I saw a pitcher get ground ball after ground ball like they used to do in a lot of 80s games. It doesn’t happen at all anymore
A smart organization would go low velo and preach pitching to contact and getting ground balls now
Like the Cardinals with Waino, Mikolas, Hudson, and an elite defense?
Your name is especially apropos given Stanton is GONE from the active roster so frequently.
@Camden453
Watch Sandy Alcantara pitch. You’ll love him. He pitches old school. When he see he has a high pitch count at any point of the game, he spends about the next couple of innings pitching to contact to get low-pitch innings to get back on track with a pace that he can try to go 9 all the time. Look at his pitch counts per inning throughout the season.
As a fan of old school pitching as well, I feel fortunate to have Alcantara pitch for my team. It’s a joy to watch.
‘Max Meyer Tommy John’
And the best player of MLB for roughly a decade is likely out for the season- or at least a lot of the rest of it and has already missed 20 games- and has a career altering injury. But apparently that story isn’t being covered because so much of the baseball world is delusional and thinks he’s still “in his prime” (he hasn’t been in his prime since 2019 at the latest- arguably 2018 since 2018 was his last season as a complete player) and therefore doesn’t want to report statistics/facts that speak to the contrary.
Yea, but Trashtros.
We all know Trout is hurt and he’s trying to come back this season… what’s your point in crying about it on a Max Meyer post?
I hate to say this but the Marlins might have jinxed themselves by holding onto all these pitchers. They definitely have had a string of injuries.
I’ve been saying it for two years, and I don’t hate to say it at all.
@You Can Put It In The Books
lol. You aren’t even trying to hide the fact that you are @MetsFan22.
You admit to saying this. You stated that the Braves window is closed.
Let me see…if the Mets falter, you’ll start making some missed WAR excuses next, or whatever makes you sleep at night.
Feel horrible for the two marlins fans who actually exist.
Max Meyer reeks
Damn
Man this sucks. Feel terrible for Max, but also sucks from the team’s perspective. Max might very well return to full form and still have a great career, but the Marlins just lost over a year’s worth of value at a time when the rebuild is already stalling
Is Tommy John not at home at this point screaming out ‘YES! YES! I ‘DID’ have the surgery but I ALSO had a career!
What?
Man, if Tommy John did not get a copyright on the use of his name, he must be crying every time this happens because of the money he could be cashing in on every single time his name is used.
They don’t teach pitch-to-contact to these guys now. Now Meyer is out. Because they weren’t telling him, “hey, you don’t have to strike everyone out. Just throw a slider down and away in a general area and get the groundball sometimes”…Throw a fastball up a little and get the flyball”
They’re telling him, hit these pinpoint locations every time. It’s putting a strain on everyone’s arm
Of course. Ignoring all the stuff I’ve said about the depth, and the Marlins organization in general, I go back to things I said when they drafted him, and again I say, of course…
No one knows or cares what you said
Bingo
Not that I care what someone who thinks automatic TJ surgeries should be a thing for no reason thinks…but what I said was
I had at least 9 people on my board, including multiple potential injury situations, that I would have considered at number 3 overall in a 5 round draft, before taking an undersized reliever at that spot. There are guys lower on the board, that I would also have liked over him. Its unbelievable that time and time and time again, the Marlins find a way to frustrate…This dude better be Zack Grienke or Pedro Martinez at that spot and/or the money they saved there better go to an extremely strong rest of the draft. Tanner Burns, who went 36th, is relatively similar to Meyer, as well as other undersized RHPs lower on the board. The Marlins actually did competent things in last years draft. They could theoretically use him as a closer, considering they dont really have one. I’m not saying he might not be great/be in the big leagues possibly even this season. I would just rather let someone else take that chance at that point in the draft, especially after already trading the best catcher in baseball for an undersized, fat RHP, with previous and future injury concerns himself
Point being that most of that has held up, and now the guy I was worried about durability wise is injured, while this farm system continues to take hit after hit after hit, and they continue to lose depth. Amazingly, even the comment about the bullpen is there is still applicable, somehow even more so now
Disappointing to hear both for Max, the Marlins and baseball from a Minnesota fan.
Always risky to base your rebuild on pitching. But this is advantage number 8 gazillion that wealthy teams have: They can build from within using position players, and then buy their pitchers based on how healthy they are.
I personally am not a fan of paying for pitching, and honestly when it’s relatively close, I probably think bat over arm at the top of the draft, especially when it’s an undersized RHP that relies on his breaking ball…I also never liked the idea of giving any pitchers more than 5 years, but that’s another story
I feel so bad for him; he JUST got to the bigs.
Let’s hope he recovers quickly.
Sucks that he needs TJ, but his elbow’s timing was pretty fortunate for him.
Just start throwing in complimentary TJ surgery with all rookie contracts. Just get it out of the way.
@miggy: Well, once every team’s entire opening-day pitching rosters are out all at once for two years with TJS, maybe these imbecile organizations will decide to get back to playing actual baseball.
I think this increases the chances Marlins don’t trade Lopez but honestly I think Fish need to retool and focus on 2024.. trade Lopez for 3-4 good prospects (2-3 of which are potential bats). Trade Aguilar and Wendle for whatever you can and the relievers that are expiring contracts (Bass, Floro in particular).
Pitching wise, Meyer, Sixto, Cabrera and Luzardo are all on the shelf and none of the last three mentioned will be 100% until 2023. That’s assuming Sixto and Cabrera can stay healthy. Don’t think Eury Perez will be ready until mid to late 2023. Makes me think a 2024 rotation would be –
Alcantara, Rodgers, Meyer, Sixto, Cabrera and Perez.
Lineup
DH/1B – Cooper, Johnston/Diaz/FA Acquisition , 2B Chisholm, SS Salas/Cappe?, 3B Berry, LF Bleday, CF TBD/FA Acquisition, RF Garcia/Sanchez?
Infield wise should be fine… but desperately need an outfielder or two that can HIT. I say sign Benintendi this off-season. Would give an outfield of Benintendi, Bleday and Garcia/Sanchez for the foreseeable future.
2024 should be the goal for sure.
Alcantra likely to be injured when 2024 rolls around. Just the way these things go. Maybe Sixto can shoulder some of the load…
the Marlins should be looking to trade Aguilar, any bullpen arm with any actual value, anything they can possibly do to move Garcia (maybe someone buys the improvement since May? Lol) and/or Soler who shouldnt have ever been signed, Elieser Hernandez a year later than they should have traded him, Stallings who should have never been traded for, and unfortunately even consider moving on from Miguel Rojas, and potentially even Joey Wendle, and they should look for potential bullpen arms for next year, and/or 1-2 corner bats, preferably on the infield, or maybe 1-2 lower level pitching prospects to help that area of the system
Otherwise, just stand pat for now so they dont do any more stupid things that put them more in a hole. If by the offseason there is slightly more clarity on certain arms, then maybe consider it with Lopez, although it makes more sense to try to extend him for a couple of years, and deal someone else in that scenario, or even try to move him later on with more years of control behind him/having more proof of durability for more value there
They should bring up multiple players that should have been up earlier, and let them play/pitch out of the bullpen. They’ve finally started to do that the last few days, but there are several others as well
The idea of trading Lopez is not something I’m a fan of. We’ve seen a couple of teams interested though, and for example Minnesota, maybe its worth considering for Miranda, Steer, Wallner, a pitching prospect, and a throw in. Throw in 1 or 2 of the bullpen arms, and maybe add something else in there too, but they never get any value in deals, and if they’re stupidly trading Lopez right now, it better be for a lot. Not even sure I like that deal really
Essentially, I say get rid of any big league reliever we have that anyone would take, especially the ones with any value. I’ve been saying this for years though, and they almost never do it b/c its more important for them to have relievers to help them lose, than get value for when they actually need to win, and then they’ll usually give those same players away for nothing later on, when they actually do need the help in that area, and just go into the season with nothing, like these last couple of years…and essentially the position players we have for 1-2 more years that arent necessary/blocking others for the Marlins moving forward, but could help others and get at least something back
Why source this Christina chick instead of execs from the Marlins organization or MLB directly??
Isringhausen/Pulsipher/Wilson 2.0 for Miami. Hope they’re all able to come back strong.
Uh, Generation K sucked and did not live up to the hype. Isringhausen kind of saved face.
The Marlins have already had far more production from their starters than Generation K.
If only they had waited 2 extra weeks to call him up then he wouldn’t accrue service time and take up a 40-man roster spot (at least during the offseason) while sitting on the IL.
Question to All:
Does anyone know if Tommy John has a copyright on the use of his name for this surgery? Dear gosh, if he doesn’t…wow!
As a Marlins fan, this sucks.
Have no fear Marlins fans – we don’t plan to pay our growing battery of injured pitchers to sit on their couch. We at The Marlins Front Office are pleased to announce that we’ve reached agreements with Max Meyer and Sixto Sanchez to join two of loanDepot Park’s premier fine dining concessions!!
Max will takeover as the Lead Chicken Slinger at “The Fowl Pole”, a chicken coop concept of traditional chicken tenders, grilled chicken sandwiches, and spicy Nashville chicken sandwiches! Cluck, cluck!!
Sixto will take his cashier talents to Goya’s “La Cocina”, a Caribbean inspired food concept serving Miami favorites including pan con bistec, Cuban sandwiches, jerk chicken and yucca fries! Sixto will begin his tenure behind the cash register with potential contract escalators allowing him to earn his way onto the grill staff.
More agreements are in the works, so stay tuned… and please join us in congratulating Max and Sixto on their new careers!! #WeAreMiami
-The Marlins Front Office