A top Marlins prospect make his return after nearly two years. And more minor-league notes
The moment had been a long time coming for Jake Eder — One year, nine months and 22 days to be exact.
That’s how much time had passed since one of the Miami Marlins’ top pitcher prospects last took the mound. First it was Tommy John surgery that sidelined him. Then it was a stress fracture in his left foot that had him in a walking boot during spring training and further delayed his return.
But Eder, the 24-year-old left-handed pitcher who Miami selected in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB Draft and is ranked as their No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline, finally returned to minor-league action on Sunday as he began a rehab assignment with Single A Jupiter.
The numbers were OK — Three runs (just one earned run) allowed on one hit, three walks and a hit batter with with two strikeouts over two innings — but the milestone was just getting Eder on the mound and getting him on the track to returning to the player who dominated in his first year of pro ball.
Eder’s fastball sits between 93-96 mph and tops out around 98 mph. He has an above average slider and a usable changeup, both of which are in the low-80s, to give him three pitches to work with in his arsenal. On Sunday, he threw 40 pitches — 28 fastballs, nine sliders and three changeups. Both of his strikeouts came with the slider.
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The Marlins’ plan is to have Eder make a few more starts with Jupiter before re-evaluating him and hopefully sending him to Double A Pensacola, where he spent all of the 2021 season before having to undergo Tommy John surgery.
In that 2021 season, the first of his pro ball career, Eder had a 1.77 ERA with 99 strikeouts against 27 walks, a .169 batting average against and 0.98 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) over 71 1/3 innings spanning 15 starts.
This and that
▪ Javier Sanoja, who entered the Marlins’ top-30 prospect list after the team designated for assignment Nic Enright last week, has hits in eight of his past 10 games for Single A Jupiter and is batting .300 (12 for 40) with 10 RBI in that span. Sanoja, 20, was the Marlins’ Florida Complex League player of the year last season.
▪ Speaking of Enright, here is what Marlins general manager Kim Ng had to say about his DFA: “That was a very tough one. You feel bad about it. You definitely wanted to see the kid get an opportunity here. It’s just a lot easier in spring training, but fortunately, he’s now healthy. It was a difficult situation. With the bullpen just being as good as it is right now, I just didn’t feel it was fair to everybody here if we started auditioning somebody for a component of the club that’s running on all cylinders.”
Enright was the Marlins’ Rule 5 Draft selection in December. Shortly after being picked, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Enright had a delayed start to spring training as he underwent treatment but was throwing bullpen sessions by the time camp broke. Miami placed him on the 60-day injured list and had him pitch in rehab assignment games for the maximum allotted 30 days before deciding to DFA him. As a Rule 5 pick, he had to be offered back to the Cleveland Guardians (the team from whom Miami selected him) after he cleared waivers. Cleveland took him back.
▪ A few quick hits: Kahlil Watson’s sixth-inning home run for High A Beloit snapped a nine-game streak without a hit. Watson was 0 for 29 with 15 strikeouts and four walks in those nine games. ... Shortstop Nasim Nunez is up to 27 stolen bases with Double A Pensacola.
