For injured Marlins pitchers, rehab, patience are key
With a week left in spring training, most players still in the Miami Marlins’ clubhouse are in the final stages of preparing for the start of the season.
Pitchers Max Meyer and Anthony Bender, however, are still in the early stages of what’s going to unfold for them this year.
Meyer and Bender are both recovering from Tommy John surgery, which they both underwent in August.
They are both progressing without setbacks and are doing light throwing, but neither is expected to pitch in a live game game this season.
And that makes spring training all the more difficult for the duo.
They are still part of the team, still in the same clubhouse with their teammates. When it’s time for the games, though, just about everyone else makes their way to the field. Meyer and Bender stay behind.
“Rehab,” Meyer said, “is pretty much my game.”
And, both said, they are happy that they have someone to go through the process with.
Both joined the Marlins’ pitching core through very opposite routes — Meyer, a starter, was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, Bender, a reliever, was a free agent signee in 2021 after playing in the independent American Association of Professional Baseball.
But both also share the same personality traits. They’re quiet yet highintensity guys. Now, instead of being in the highenergy environment of Major League Baseball action, they are forced to go through the slow and methodical rehab to make sure they can be at full strength when their careers resume.
“Patience is something they both have to learn, something that probably both of them are a little bit short on, but they’re both going,” pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said. “They’re both doing good to this point through their program. They’re both looking good.”
Bender burst onto the scene after making his debut for the Marlins on May 5, 2021. He has a fastball that averages 97 mph and a swing-andmiss slider that he uses as his putout pitch. Miami immediately put him in high-leverage situations as a rookie and had him open the 2022 season as the closer.
But he pitched just 19 innings in 2022, first sidelined by a minor hip injury, then for two months due to back stiffness and then, ultimately, his season ending when he underwent Tommy John surgery.
Bender said the offseason was “different for sure. You don’t really get the whole offseason to go out and hang out. I’m doing rehab almost every day, learning to relax my arm and do new strengthening and just learn the TJ process.”
For Meyer, the injury made his MLB debut a premature one. He injured the elbow 10 pitches into his second Marlins start, barely a week into his MLB career. Meyer, ranked as the Marlins’ No. 3 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline,
said this week he is now throwing from 75 feet.
“I’m glad I started throwing again,” Meyer said, “because now I have something I can look forward to every single day.”
And while they aren’t expected to play this season, both know they are still part of this team, helmed by a new manager in Skip Schumaker. They are still involved in meetings and are enjoying the clubhouse camaraderie while they have the opportunity this season.
“That’s why I come here every day,” Bender said, “just to be with everyone and be involved with all the team stuff. When they’re gone, it’s going to be tough because they’ll be playing every day and traveling and I’m gonna be here. You’re not really forgotten about,
but you’re not in the mix. You don’t really know what’s going on with the clubhouse in Miami. You’re missing out on all that, so being here and getting to know everyone and all the new guys coming in is pretty important.”
THIS AND THAT
Outfielder Victor Mesa Jr., the No. 14 prospect in the Marlins’ organization, hit a walk-off home run to right field in the Marlins’ 5-4 spring training win over the Houston Astros on Sunday at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Mesa also hit a sacrifice fly earlier in the game.
Right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera, competing for the final spot in Miami’s starting rotation, was dominant on the mound. He allowed just one run over 4 innings on two hits and two walks
while striking out three.
Veteran infielders Yuli Gurriel and Jose Iglesias, who signed minor-league deals with the Marlins on March 10, have the ability to opt out of that deal on Saturday if they are not added to Miami’s 40-man roster.
This is standard procedure.
MLB’s collective bargaining agreement says any player who entered the offseason as an Article XX (B) free agent — defined as a player has at least six years of service time and finished the previous season either on a big-league roster or the injured list — and signs a minor league deal at least 10 days before Opening Day will have three opt-out dates in his contract: Five days before the start of the season (in this case, Saturday), May 1 and June 1.