MLB.com reporting that Marlins pitcher will require Tommy John surgery and will miss 2024

The pitching woes just got worse for the Miami Marlins Thursday morning when it was announced that right-handed starting pitcher Eury Perez will undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire season, according to Christina DeNicola of MLB.com.

President of Baseball Operations Peter Bendix made the announcement from St. Louis, where the Marlins dropped another one to fall to 0-8 on the season. Perez visited a specialist for the second time in two weeks and it was determined that surgery was inevitable. He was experiencing tightness in his elbow while throwing a bullpen session and that was it.

It's been a bit of a roller coaster. Initially having the frustration of the elbow soreness and followed by the positive outlook on thinking you don't need surgery right now. There was an understanding that the ligament was not in great shape and essentially, you can pitch with it until you can't, and nobody knows when that's going to be. You have to try and see when the symptoms return. And unfortunately, that happened now."

Perez, 20, has had right elbow soreness since March 14 and told the team after finishing a game the day before that he was not feeling right and was experiencing discomfort due to a broken nail on his right middle finger.

When Perez went to Texas last month, for his first visit to Dr. Keith Meister, a specialist, tests revealed mild elbow inflammation and no structural damage. He then followed Meister's advice and rested for a few days and then began to throw a bullpen session and things went from bad to catastrophic. Perez will miss this season and the beginning of the 2025 season.

“Essentially, the idea is if the elbow doesn’t hurt, you keep pitching and you build up,” Bendix said. “At some point, the elbow’s going to start hurting again. It might be in two weeks. It might be in two years. You can’t find out until you build up.”

Manager Skip Schumaker was obviously upset with the news.

“It’s obviously horrible for us, but it’s horrible for him,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “That poor kid tried as best as he could to come back and be part of the 2024 team. He was going to be one of our aces, if not the ace replacing Sandy this year, [along] with [Jesús] Luzardo, obviously. It definitely hits. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s not easy to hear one of your best pitchers going down again, but I feel confident that he’ll come back. Him and Sandy will be together in the dugout all the way through. I’m not happy that he’s sitting in the dugout next to Sandy, but it’s kind of where we’re at and an opportunity for someone to step up.”

Exactly who is going to standup, no one knows for sure, except that there will be a flight from Jacksonville to St. Louis with a pitcher on it and we will then find out who it is when the promotion is announced.