Strained forearm forces Brice to IL
Continued inflammation brings idleness that interrupts best stretch of his career
MIAMI — In the midst of a career-best stretch, Austin Brice will have to temporarily hit the pause button.
The Miami Marlins reliever, who’s pitched 11 2⁄3 consecutive scoreless innings, was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right forearm flexor strain. Brice said he’ll hopefully return to the bullpen fairly quickly, adding that an MRI revealed everything was structurally fine with the tendons and ligaments.
The 27-year-old right-hander said the strain was mainly caused by inflammation.
“It started a few days ago,” Brice said. “I’ve been throwing through it and it just wasn’t going away. It wasn’t getting worse, but it wasn’t getting better.”
Re-acquired from the Cincinnati Reds this offseason, Brice has been one of Miami’s most reliable bullpen arms, posting a 1.88 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in 29 appearances. Over the past six weeks, the righty has been among the best relievers in baseball. Since June 1, Brice has allowed just one earned run in 17 innings. His 0.53 ERA during that stretch is the sixth best among MLB relievers.
“It was tough to make the call to say, ‘Hey I can’t throw anymore’ especially when I was throwing well with it,” Brice said. “It was just getting to a point where it was starting to bother me during the game and the adrenaline wasn’t really taking it over, so I had to do something and I didn’t want to go out there and keep beating a dead horse so to speak.”
In a corresponding move, Miami activated Tayron Guerrero from the 10-day IL. …
Sidelined for the past month, Pablo Lopez is continuing to make strides in his recovery. Dealing with a right shoulder strain, the 23-year-old starter threw a 20-pitch bullpen Tuesday afternoon as the Marlins begin to build him back up.
One of Miami’s top young arms, the team is being cautious
with the injury. Last year’s rookie campaign was cut short in September after he was diagnosed with the same ailment. In 14 starts this season, Lopez has posted a 4.23 ERA in 76 2⁄3 innings. The talented right-hander likely won’t return until August as he continues his throwing program.
“He looked good,” manager Don Mattingly said. “We’ll continue with his progression and hopefully no setbacks and get him ready to pitch again.” …
It’s been over seven weeks since Chad Wallach was placed on the IL with a concussion and the Marlins backup catcher is still suffering from its lingering effects.
On Tuesday, Miami pulled Wallach from a rehab assignment in New Orleans with eye fatigue. The 27-year-old backstop has played in just three rehab games — two with Jupiter and one with New Orleans — since clearing concussion protocol.
“[Wallach] said his first couple of games he felt great and then all of the sudden he’s having some vision issues from a hitting standpoint,” Mattingly said. “That’s always dangerous if a guy’s not seeing the ball clearly with velocity and the areas that you’d get out of the way.
“I think he’s frustrated. … It’s just been when one of those things; eye fatigue you don’t know exactly what’s going on and why it’s happening.”
Prior to the injury, Wallach was performing well in the backup role, hitting .250/.333/.375 (94 wRC+) with a .3 WAR in 19 games. His greatest value came behind plate, where he’s provided strong fielding and framing. In his stead, Bryan Holaday has been been equally as strong, batting .313/.411/.479 (138 wRC+) with a .2 WAR in 17 games. …
Drew Steckenrider took a big step toward returning to the bullpen Tuesday afternoon. The Marlins reliever threw on the mound for the first time since being placed on the IL on May 8 with a right flexor strain. The 28-year-old right-hander threw a 15-pitch bullpen, consisting solely of fastballs.
“It felt good,” Steckenrider said. “I felt healthy. I wanted to make sure everything was all good with my arm and it was after that.
The next step will be mixing in breaking balls to his progression and continue his work off the mound. Following that, he’ll likely head to Jupiter to face some hitters.
One of Miami’s top bullpen arms last season, Steckenrider’s has had a tough 2019 season, recording a 6.28 ERA in 14 1⁄3 innings. While he’s posted a strong .173 opposing batting average, he’s been victimized by the long ball. His 3.77 HR/9 is the second-highest among NL relievers with a minimum of 10 innings pitched. Last year, he allowed just .97 HR/9.