Braxton

Garrett

Garrett pitched two innings in his spring debut last week, so it was a little surprising he exited after just 26 pitches today. He again pitched well, although his velocity wasn’t quite as good as last week; his fastball averaged 92.3 mph, which was down from 93.0 on Thursday but still up 1.2 mph from when he was last seen in 2024.

The good news is that Garrett, who is coming off elbow surgery, averaged 93.0 mph with his fastball today. That’s 2.8 mph better than when he was last seen in 2024 and 1.8 mph ahead of his career-best average from 2022. He was unfortunately wild in his 23-pitch inning, but he’d be quite a bit more interesting for fantasy purposes if that velocity sticks around.

That’s the same salary he made in 2025, which he wound up missing after undergoing elbow surgery. He’s supposed to be healthy this spring, and if so, he’ll probably have a rotation spot. He might have to battle Max Meyer, Adam Mazur and Ryan Gusto if the Marlins bring in a starter to replace Edward Cabrera.

Garrett has been on the shelf since undergoing a revision procedure on the UCL in his left elbow back in January. The 27-year-old southpaw is highly unlikely to make it back before the end of the regular season, but it’s undoubtedly a positive sign that he’s going to resume throwing again. He should be a full-go for spring training.

The move opens up a spot on the 40-man roster for Cal Quantrill. Garrett will miss all of the 2025 season after undergoing the procedure with the hopes of helping the Miami rotation at some point in 2026.

Garrett, 27, was diagnosed with a left elbow impingement at the end of the 2024 season, but unfortunately the southpaw will need to undergo the brace procedure. When healthy he’s shown the stuff to suggest he can be a mid-rotation starter or better, but he’s only been able to throw over 100 innings once in his career. The Marlins will likely need to add a veteran starter for the back of their rotation, even in a year where they’re unlikely to compete for a playoff spot.

Those players include three likely members of the rotation in Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, as well as outfielder Jesús Sánchez, catcher Nick Fortes and reliever Anthony Bender. No one from the group stood out as a non-tender candidate, but the Marlins might have let Luzardo or Garrett go if they were particularly worried about the state of their arms after they missed much of last season. Fortes will also get to stick around after his improved finish, though it’d be great if he were pushed into a backup role by either Agustin Ramirez or an outside acquisition.

Garrett spent the second half of the season working his way back from a flexor tendon strain and made three minor league rehab starts in September, but the Marlins declined to activate him for the final 10 days, even though he seemed ready to return. Now we know why. Garrett also missed the start of his year with a shoulder impingement, and he wound up making just seven starts for the Marlins in May and June. If healthy, he’ll be penciled into next year’s rotation.

Garrett, out since June with a forearm strain, has thrown 10 2/3 scoreless innings over three appearances on his rehab assignment. He’ll likely rejoin the Marlins to make one start next week.

Garrett allowed two hits, walked two and threw 38 pitches (23 strikes) over three strong frames in his first rehab outing since landing on the injured list back in late June due to a forearm flexor tendon strain. The 27-year-old lefty is probably going to need at least one or two additional outings before returning to Miami’s starting rotation.