Marlins Ace Ahead of Schedule on Rehab from Catastrophic Arm Injury

The Miami Marlins saw one of their stars hit a rehab milestone early while in camp

The Miami Marlins have to be happy with how one of their best players is progressing in his injury rehab. 

Because he's ahead of schedule, which bodes well for next season. 

Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara, who had Tommy John surgery in October 2023, played catch at the team's facility in Jupiter today. 

ladies and gents, @sandyalcantar22 is throwing. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/9ntQZxdNsP

— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) March 9, 2024

The rehab from Tommy John surgery is typically a fifteen-to-eighteen-month return to play, but Alcántara is ahead of schedule. Playing catch typically doesn't happen until the 6th month out from surgery for a pitcher, but Alcántara hit the milestone in his 5th month. 

There's still no chance of seeing him pitch in Miami during the 2024 season - remember, it's a fifteen-to-eighteen-month rehab process - but Alcántara being ahead of schedule bodes well for his availability in 2025. March 2025 is about seventeen months out from his surgery, and if he's already ahead of pace in his return, that likely indicates that he should be closer to game form by the end of Grapefruit League play in 2025. 

At that point, the questions for the season would come down to workload - after a full season off, what type of innings workload can Sandy realistically take on? But he should have the requisite time to get his "stuff" back to competition form, as compared to if he was behind in his rehabilitation and needed to spend Grapefruit League play getting everything working again. 

And if the rest of this rotation, led by Jesús Luzardo and Eury Pérez, can show in 2024 that they're capable of carrying the load, it makes the 2025 rotation even deadlier.