Another Miami Marlins pitcher is injured. Left-hander Jesús Luzardo has been placed on the 15-day injured list with elbow tightness, the team announced Friday. Righty Anthony Maldonado was called up in a corresponding and will start a bullpen game in Luzardo's place against the Washington Nationals on Friday. It will be Maldonado's MLB debut.
Luzardo, 26, has a long arm injury history that includes Tommy John surgery as a high school senior in 2016, rotator cuff and lat strains in the minors in 2019, and a forearm strain in 2022. All of those injuries came with lengthy absences. Not counting the shortened 2020 pandemic season, 2023 was the first year Luzardo avoided the injured list since 2018.
The Marlins have been hit extremely hard by pitching injuries this season. Edward Cabrera returned from a shoulder issue last week, though Miami still has four starting pitchers on the injured list, Luzardo included. The the club's rotation depth chart currently looks something like this:
RHP Sandy Alcantara(will miss 2024 with Tommy John surgery)LHP Jesús Luzardo(out with elbow tightness)RHP Eury Pérez(will miss 2024 with Tommy John surgery)LHP Braxton Garrett(out with shoulder impingement)- RHP Edward Cabrera
- LHP Trevor Rogers
- LHP Ryan Weathers
- RHP Sixto Sánchez (threw 2 2/3 innings in first start Wednesday)
- RHP Max Meyer
That depth chart does not include A.J. Puk, who is on the injured list with shoulder fatigue. He began the season in the rotation but will move back into the bullpen when he returns, the Marlins announced earlier this week.
Garrett will begin a minor league rehab assignment Friday and is expected to throw 60 pitches. He will likely need multiple rehab starts to get fully built up and prepare for the season. Meyer was Miami's best pitcher (2.12 ERA in three starts) before being sent to the minors last week for workload reasons. Meyer could be called back up in the wake of Luzardo's injury.
Miami has used eight different starting pitchers this season -- Garrett will be No. 9 when he returns -- third most in baseball behind the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers (nine each). Their 202 man-games lost to injury are eighth most in baseball, though they are heavily skewed toward pitching, which has left the team scrambling for arms.
Luzardo was Miami's Opening Day starter this season after throwing 178 2/3 innings with 208 strikeouts and a 3.58 ERA in 2023. The Marlins enter play Friday with a National League-worst 6-20 record. They are expected to sell sooner rather than later and Luzardo was arguably their most valuable trade chip prior to this elbow issue.
