Rookie Meyer to have season-ending surgery
Max Meyer’s 2022 season is over.
He likely won’t throw a pitch in a live game in 2023, either.
The Miami Marlins announced Thursday that Meyer, their top selection in the 2020 MLB Draft and the No. 20 overall prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a tear in his right UCL. The surgery will be performed by Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles at a to-be-determined date but in the near future.
Meyer is the second highly ranked Marlins pitcher prospect to have Tommy John surgery in the past 12 months. Jake Eder, the No. 6 overall prorspect in Miami’s system and their fourthround pick in 2020, had the surgery last August and has been throwing off a mound since the start of July. Barring a setback, Eder is expected to be ready for spring training in 2023, which makes a 2024 return for Meyer a plausible timeline.
Meyer’s decision to have the surgery came after he saw “a number of doctors,” according to manager Don Mattingly. This included Dr. Wade Van Sice at Jupiter Orthopedics and Sports Medicine after undergoing an MRI on Monday.
This was Meyer’s second injury to his right elbow this season. He also missed a month while dealing with right ulnar nerve irritation while in the minor leagues, which Meyer said at the time was the most significant injury he had dealt with at the time.
Now, he’s dealing with something much more severe.
The typical recovery for a pitcher following Tommy John surgery is between 12 and 18 months,
although sometimes it can take two years before returning.
Meyer, 23, left his second career MLB start on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates after facing just three batters and throwing 10 pitches when he felt pain in his elbow when he faced Ke’Bryan
Hayes, the third and final batter he would face. Meyer walked Hayes on four pitches and immediately signaled to the dugout.
“If I feel any discomfort … I’ve got to be honest with myself and the staff,” Meyer said Saturday of taking extra precaution
after the nerve issue. “I know I want to get back out there and do what I can, but I think that we need to take care of all the elbow stuff right now so I don’t have to deal with it in the future.”
Head athletic trainer Lee Meyer, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. and
Mattingly made their way to the mound to check on Meyer before the pitcher retreated to the dugout.
“Obviously when a guy comes out like that,” Mattingly said, “it’s never good or it doesn’t look very good.”
Meyer made his MLB debut on July 16, allowing five earned runs on seven hits (including two home runs) and one walk with five strikeouts over 5 1⁄3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.
One week later, and his big-league career has now been put on hold for the foreseeable future.
“I can’t do anything about it,” Meyer said Saturday. “I put my work in. I’ve been doing my arm care and everything and it’s kind of just one of those things that happens and you’ve just got to deal with it.”