Marlins’ Max Meyer struggles vs. Reds as he looks to solidify long-term spot in rotation

It is not a secret that the Miami Marlins’ 2024 season has been one to forget, entering Tuesday 29 games below the .500 mark.

One of the main reasons has been injuries to its starting pitching staff – seeing Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Braxton Garrett, Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers watch from the dugout for large parts of the 2024 season.

One guy whose name was once on this long list was right-handed pitcher Max Meyer – seeing his velocity reach as high as 95 miles per hour throughout the course of the Marlins’ 8-2 loss Tuesday in the second of a four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds at loanDepot park.

After Tuesday’s bumpy outing that featured the righty use his slider for a majority of the night, Meyer is 2-2 with a 5.10 ERA in six starts (30 innings) this season. Against Cincinnati, Meyer allowed six earned runs over four innings on eight hits and three walks while striking out two.

“His command was off. You can see it, you know, from early on. Lots of three-ball counts...kinda uncharacteristic of him,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Slider didn’t really have its shape; no swing-and-miss on his changeup. There’s work to be done; he’s not a finished product; he knows that.”

Picked third overall in the 2020 MLB Draft, the 25-year-old Meyer was only six innings into his professional career when he was forced to come out of a 2022 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates after 10 pitches.

Tests revealed Meyer tore his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), causing the promising flamethrower to undergo Tommy John surgery – missing 19 months of baseball activity.

At the time of the devastating injury, Meyer was ranked as the No. 20 overall prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.

Schumaker met with members of the media during Spring Training in February, where Schumaker talked about how Meyer’s great recovery work, mixed with tests coming back in favor of Meyer earned him a job on the 2024 Opening Day roster.

Ultimately, however, Schumaker was going to limit how much Meyer would throw because of how significant the injury was.

Assuming the rehabilitation process goes well for Alcantara, Peréz, and Luzardo and the Marlins do not make a major trade before the start of next Spring Training, three starters are penciled in for 2025.

Now depending on what the Marlins choose to do with Weathers and Cabrera this offseason, that potentially leaves Meyer a clear-cut role for 2025 – whether that is starting games or having an important responsibility in a bullpen that said goodbye to a few relievers at the MLB Trade Deadline last week.

“I’m definitely ready to get back out there; really feel good,” Meyer said. “Work on some stuff; cleaning up; look at some video, see what I’m doing wrong.”