The Mariners are right-handed Matt Brash underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday, according to Adam Jude of the Seattle Times at X, relaying a word from general manager Justin Hollander. The righty had his hamstring repaired and a brace installed, with the club expecting to return in June of next year, according to MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer on X.
It’s obviously bad luck for both the Mariners and Brash, as the righty has been very impressive the past two years. He was an impressive starter when he came up through the minors, but a lack of control seemed to push him into a relief role, which is how things have played out in the majors thus far.
He started 2022 with five starts but had a 7.65 earned run average in those, walking 17.9% of the batters he faced. He was sent back down to the minors and moved into a bullpen role. He reappeared with the big league club in July and posted a 2.35 ERA in 30 2/3 innings to go. His 12.6% walk rate was still high but he still struck out 33.9% of batters.
2023 saw him continue to establish himself as a major league reliever and even step into a relief role for the Mariners. He posted a 3.06 ERA last year in 78 appearances. He lowered his walk rate to 9.4% while still getting punchouts 34.7% of the time. He recorded four saves and 24 saves in the series.
Here in 2024, it was very scary. It was reported in late February that Brash might be looking at an extended stay, but he was cleared to start throwing after a few days. Bad news came back at the end of April when his development was blocked. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list earlier this week and now the concern of missing him for a long time has come to pass.
He will now spend a year and a half of 2025 recovering from surgery, forcing the club to continue without him. Andrés Muñoz he’s in the closer’s role while the pitchers prefer Ryne Stanek again Gabe Speier lead the setup team.
Brash entered 2024 with one year and 121 days of service time. That will give him a limited chance to qualify for arbitration this winter as a Super Two player. Looking at recent history, that number of assists would have been enough three times since 2009, though all three have occurred in the last five seasons.
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