Eury

Perez

Pérez is slated to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery next week. The procedural move opened up a spot on Miami’s 40-man roster for the club to pick up infielder Otto López off waivers from San Francisco.

More bad news for the Marlins. It’s a devastating loss for Miami, and fantasy managers as well as the electrifying 20-year-old righty was throwing without any issues prior to Opening Day, but experienced some renewed elbow tightness earlier this week during a bullpen session. The surgery is reportedly scheduled for Monday with Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas, the same doctor who operated on former NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara. Given the timing of the surgery, Pérez figures to miss a significant portion of the 2025 campaign as well.

Pérez was able to resume throwing last weekend without any issues after additional testing on his right elbow didn’t reveal any structural damage. The dynamic 20-year-old righty is still pretty far off from returning to Miami’s starting rotation, but he’s managed to avoid a worst-case scenario outcome in this situation.

Pérez is expected to start the season on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation but was cleared of any structural damage. The 20-year-old will continue to work back from his injury and will likely miss a few weeks to open the season, but hearing that Pérez is throwing pain-free is a significant positive development.

The extremely positive news here is that Pérez has been cleared of any structural damage and hasn’t been recommended for surgery. However, the electrifying 20-year-old righty, who is scheduled to play catch this weekend, will likely wind up missing a few weeks to open the season before being re-evaluated to determine his next steps. There should be some clarity on his return timeline in a couple weeks, but fantasy managers should feel somewhat reassured that he’s not facing season-ending surgery.

That’s never what you want to hear. The 20-year-old hurler was pulled from his Grapefruit League start on Wednesday for precautionary reasons due to right middle fingernail discomfort. Now, the Marlins note that Pérez also reported soreness in his elbow on Thursday. He has already been shut down from throwing for a couple of days, but don’t be surprised if that shutdown gets extended. He’ll meet with Dr. Keith Meister — who performed teammate Sandy Alcantara’s Tommy John surgery — to see exactly what’s going on there. There’s now a very distinct possibility that he won’t be ready for the start of the regular season.

The hope here is that the extended break will help Pérez put a lingering right middle fingernail issue, which has impacted his last few Grapefruit League outings, to bed. The electrifying 20-year-old righty is expected to be a full-go by the start of the season. However, the brief delay in his ramp-up might prevent him from taking the ball on Opening Day.

This is the same fingernail that bothered the 20-year-old in his second start of Spring Training. It will be interesting to see if the team keeps him sidelined from an extended period of time or if he will gut it through the rest of camp.

Pérez faced just three batters and threw 14 pitches before he was taken off the mound. Nothing official from the team yet, but it’s possible he’s dealing with a recurrence of either the right middle fingernail or blister issues that cropped up earlier this spring. There should be an official update on his status shortly.

It wasn’t all great for the 20-year-old phenom though, as he did allow two runs on four hits on the evening. The Mets scratched out a run against him in the second inning on a two-out RBI single off the bat of Jose Iglesias. Perez then served up a solo shot to Francisco Alvarez leading off the fourth inning. He now sports a 3.52 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and a 10/1 K/BB ratio over 7 2/3 innings in his first three spring starts. If targeting Perez in fantasy drafts you’ll need to pay up, as his average draft position already sits on the fringe of the top-75 players overall and will likely continue to rise.