Marlins left-hander Josh Simpson will undergo surgery for ulnar nerve neuritis, per Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. He is expected to miss about three months.
Simpson, 26, began this year on the 15-day injured list with left elbow ulnar neuritis. He was transferred to the 60-day IL this past weekend when the club selected the contract of right-hander Kyle Tyler. That transfer made Simpson ineligible to return from the injured list until late May but he’ll now be out beyond that point anyway, with the news of this surgery.
A 32nd-round pick of the Fish in the 2019 draft, the lefty was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November of 2022 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He had just finished a strong season, tossing 68 innings between Double-A and Triple with a 3.97 earned run average. He walked 12.4% of batters faced but also struck out opponents at a hefty 40.7% rate.
Last year, he kept getting the punchies but the control got a bit worse. In 38 2/3 minor league innings, he had a 4.42 ERA, 37.5% strikeout rate and 15.3% walk rate. He was recalled to the big league club a couple of times but was not put into a game and is therefore still looking to make his major league debut.
That debut will have to wait at least a few more months as he rehabs from this surgery. Since he’s on the big league IL, he’ll collect major league pay and service time while he’s working his way back. The Marlins have Tanner Scott and Andrew Nardi as the two healthy lefty relievers on their roster. Some have speculated that A.J. Puk could be moved back to the bullpen since his rotation work has not been good so far this year, but he’s on the IL now anyway due to fatigue in his throwing shoulder.
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