One of the many Toronto Blue Jays prospects who received Tommy John surgery last season has returned.
The Florida Complex League began its season on Saturday, with the FCL Blue Jays taking on the FCL Phillies. Starting the game for the Blue Jays was Landen Maroudis, who pitched for the first time since April 21, 2024, with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays.
On Saturday, he pitched two and one-third innings, giving up one hit, one earned run, two walks, and striking out four for a 3.86 ERA. Sadly, FCL’s gameday tracker doesn’t count the number of pitches thrown, so it’s unclear what his pitch count was. All in all, Maroudis pitched well for a player who hasn’t pitched in over a year.
That’s an encouraging sign, as Maroudis quickly became one of the most intriguing players in the Blue Jays’ system last season. In just three outings with the D-Jays, the righty allowed a single run in 10.2 innings pitched for a 0.84 ERA and a 2.43 FIP. Moreover, he struck out 31.6% of batters.
Despite pitching just 10.2 professional innings and missing over a year of time, Maroudis ranked as MLB Pipeline’s eighth-best Blue Jays prospect. His best pitch is his mid-90s fastball, graded 55. He also features a 50-grade curveball and slider with a changeup that lags behind.
It’s an encouraging sign that Maroudis is back, but a lot of the Blue Jays’ best pitching prospects required Tommy John surgery last season. Ricky Tiedemann is set for a return in the second half of the season. Their first-round selection in 2022, Brandon Barriera, is also not too far away from appearing in games.
This doesn’t even mention Alek Manoah, who looked solid in the big leagues before requiring surgery. Left-handed pitcher Adam Macko is also close to returning, but he hasn’t pitched this season because of knee surgery.
Hopefully, these prospects can get healthy soon and come back stronger than ever.
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