Eury Pérez at '75%,' on track for midseason return

MIAMI -- Marlins right-hander Eury Pérez showed up to media day on Friday afternoon sporting long curls and providing good news: He is still on track for a return from Tommy John surgery around the All-Star break.

“I cut [my hair] after the 2023 season, and I let it grow after the surgery,” Pérez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “I still don't know if I'm going to cut it again.”

Pérez, who underwent the procedure with an internal brace on April 8, 2024, threw his seventh bullpen session Friday after beginning to play catch on Sept. 19.

“I'll say I feel very good right now,” Pérez said. “I will say 75 percent, just to put it out there in a number. But we're doing very well, just getting better. Throwing bullpens already. I'm throwing a lot of fastballs and also changeups.”

The 21-year-old Pérez last appeared in a big league game Sept. 20, 2023, when his breakout rookie season was cut short by left sacroiliac joint inflammation. He entered Spring Training healthy but experienced right elbow soreness on March 14, 2024. After testing revealed mild right elbow inflammation and no structural damage, Pérez resumed playing catch a couple of days later, per the recommendation of Dr. Keith Meister. Tightness during an ensuing bullpen session led to additional testing and the need for surgery.

Like mentor Sandy Alcantara, Pérez was forced to watch the 2024 season from the dugout. Alcantara, who said on Friday that he had a normal offseason of training, is full-go this spring and is slated to start on Opening Day against the Pirates in his return from October 2023 Tommy John surgery.

“It was very difficult, I'm not going to lie, mostly because Sandy was not in the rotation as well,” Pérez said. “You try to do the best for the team, help the team as much as you can, and then, things happen or are out of your control. But all you’ve got to do is just keep your head up high and continue battling and getting better, and that's what I want to do for this year.

“A lot of help [from Sandy]. It's still difficult, because it's your first time going through something like this, and you don't know it, but just being beside Sandy asking all these questions: ‘How is it? How do you feel? What to do later? When to do the next step?’ All these little questions, and having an answer from Sandy really was a lot of help for me.”

More than anything, Pérez wants to carry over the mental aspects of his rehab when he returns to the mound.

“I will say the thing that I learned the most is patience,” Pérez said. “You have to continue learning about that, learn about your body, your strength, and continue working on that, which is going to strengthen those little things that you've got to work on.”