JUPITER, Fla. -- It had been nearly six months since Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara flashed his megawatt smile, picked up his glove and took the field with the intention of throwing a baseball.

After stretching on the back fields with his fellow pitchers at big league camp, Alcantara tossed on flat ground from 40 feet and around 50 mph with bullpen coordinator Rob Flippo for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery.

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"Last night, I can't even sleep, thinking that I have to be here, be ready to throw," Alcantara said. "Today was a great moment for me, throw a baseball for the first time since six months, so everything feels good. Hopefully, I've just got to keep doing everything I can to get ready and back as soon as I can. So I think I've just got to be patient and positive."

While the other pitchers went through their daily throwing program, mentee Eury Pérez and a member of the training staff stood behind Alcantara and watched every move. Barring any setbacks, Alcantara will continue with this step on his long road to recovery. He wasn't nervous, but he was worried about hitting his target because it had been so long.

"[Pérez] was sitting next to me inside the locker room and I said, 'OK, let's go outside to watch me. I've got to throw for the first time since six months. You've got to be there,'" Alcantara said. "And he went there, and you guys see the smile on his face."

The 28-year-old Alcantara, who was initially diagnosed with a right forearm flexor strain on Sept. 6, had felt discomfort on his 94th and final pitch on Sept. 3 in Washington. An MRI later revealed a right UCL sprain.

Ten days after that diagnosis, Alcantara threw on flat ground in Milwaukee and then completed two pain-free bullpen sessions before beginning a rehab assignment with Triple-A Jacksonville on Sept. 21. He went four scoreless innings on 51 pitches (34 strikes) and maxed out at 98.3 mph, but he shut himself down after experiencing forearm tightness.

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The Marlins went on to earn a postseason berth with Alcantara and Pérez (left SI joint inflammation) sidelined. After the club was eliminated by the Phillies in the National League Wild Card Series, Alcantara underwent Tommy John surgery on Oct. 6, 2023.

"So everything is different," Alcantara said. "When I got the news that I had to do a surgery, my mind, my face, everything changed. But today, I've got that smile that I used to have before, and I feel good today, because I got the opportunity to be out there and throw for the first time, and everything feels good."

The rehab timeline typically ranges from 12-14 months. Alcantara knows he must be patient. At the time of his social media post announcing the procedure, he acknowledged he would miss the 2024 season.

“I think Sandy will be ahead of schedule most likely, just because of who he is and how hard he works,” manager Skip Schumaker said before Alcantara’s throwing session. “Still a long way to go, but I think when you don't have any setbacks and you are progressing like he is, it's only a positive sign. There's a lot of dark days when you are going through a Tommy John surgery. The way he's going about it and still influencing and impacting his teammates, and then also being the guy that probably works out harder than anybody in the weight room, still, and doing his throwing progression, he's probably three or four weeks ahead of schedule. No one's surprised that Sandy's ahead.”