Josh

Ekness

Ekness hit the injured list with a right calf strain prior to Monday’s series opener against the division-rival Nationals. The intriguing rookie southpaw has posted a strong 1.69 ERA and 5/5 K/BB ratio across 5 1/3 innings over six appearances in a pair of stints with the Marlins this season. He’s unlikely to rejoin Miami’s relief mix until around next month’s All-Star break.

Ekness was seen on crutches in a team video after Sunday’s game, so this would make sense. The 24-year-old has a 1.69 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and a 5/5 K/BB ratio across 5 1/3 innings in his six appearances. He was just called up on Friday and didn’t appear in a game over the weekend, so it’s unclear when/how he suffered the injury.

Kevin Barral of Fish on First is reporting that the Marlins are calling up Zach Brzykcy to join the pen. It seems likely that Ekness landing on the IL will be the countermove.

Ekness, 24, has done a nice job in his limited action with the Marlins this season, registering a 1.69 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and a 5/5 K/BB ratio across 5 1/3 innings in his six appearances. Expect him to be utilized in a middle relief role.

Ekness has been stellar for the Marlins with a 1.69 ERA in his first 5 1/3 innings. However, he has thrown 49 pitches over the last two days, so the Marlins will send him down to keep the fresh arms up in the bullpen. He will certainly get another chance soon.

It had appeared as though Andrew Nardi would close it out, but he was lifted with a man on and two outs after Curtis Mead came on as a pinch hitter for Jorbit Vivas. Ekness made it look easy, getting ahead of Mead 0-2 before getting him to line out to center to end the game. He now boasts a 2.70 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and a 2/1 K/BB ratio over his first 3 1/3 innings for the Marlins. Ekness isn’t a reliable closer and the Marlins have mostly gone closer-by-committee without Pete Fairbanks, with the two saves in the last week going to Ekness and John King despite Tyler Phillips and Calvin Faucher appearing like the top options in the pen.

Ekness earns his first promotion to the majors after recording a surreal 21/6 K/BB ratio across 12 2/3 innings for Triple-A Jacksonville this season.T he 24-year-old features an upper-90s fastball/sinker combination paired with a devastating sweeper, which should enable him to excel in high-leverage spots. His arsenal may be deep enough to transition into a traditional starting role at some point in the future like Michael King, Reynaldo López, Seth Lugo and Clay Holmes have in recent years. He’s an interesting name to watch in deeper fantasy formats in the coming months.

Both Bellozo and de Geus are likely to be up-and-down arms for the Marlins, and that role won’t have any fantasy relevance. Ekness has a chance to make his MLB debut at some point this summer.