Marlins' Meyer placed on Minor League IL

Marlins right-handed pitching prospect Max Meyer, MLB Pipeline's No. 31 overall prospect, was placed on the Minor League seven-day injured list with ulnar nerve irritation on Thursday. The club does not expect Meyer, whose IL move was retroactive to Wednesday, to miss much time.

The ulnar nerve controls nearly all of the small muscles in the hand, sending sensory information to help move one's shoulders, arms and hands. Although it begins at the armpit, it doesn’t perform a function until it enters the forearm so one can:

• Bend and straighten the pinky and ring fingers.
• Grip and hold items.
• Perform fine motor tasks like writing with a pen, buttoning a shirt or turning pages in a magazine.

This might explain Meyer's uncharacteristic results of late. After opening his Triple-A season with a 1.72 ERA (31 1/3 IP, 6 ER) through six starts, he surrendered 14 runs in just 8 1/3 innings over his next two. That included Tuesday's career-low-tying 3 1/3 frames against Durham.

With Jesús Luzardo landing on the Major League injured list over the weekend, the Marlins gave Cody Poteet a spot start on Tuesday and recalled Daniel Castano, who was scheduled to pitch that day for Jacksonville. That pushed up Meyer's start to the regular four days' rest for the second time this season. Meyer went on to report something to the trainer on Wednesday, and he underwent testing.

On Monday, general manager Kim Ng was asked about the 23-year-old Meyer, who is not on the 40-man roster and has yet to make his MLB debut.

"We think he's got a very bright future ahead of him," Ng said. "When you zoom out a little bit, Max has got [150 2/3] innings in professional baseball. And so when we look at this, we just want these guys when they come up to be as prepared as they can, given the circumstances, to get big league hitters out. And that's the goal that we have in mind for Max right now."

Meyer will join the Marlins' other options for starting-pitching depth, Braxton Garrett and Jordan Holloway, on the IL. Both Garrett and Holloway are on the 40-man roster and have big league experience. Sixto Sánchez (MLB Pipeline's No. 54 overall prospect) continues to rehab his right shoulder, throwing from 90 feet.