A key pitching prospect who was trending towards reaching the upper echelon of Blue Jays prospect rankings is back after a lengthy injury absence.

Fresh off making five rehab starts with the FCL Blue Jays, Landen Maroudis is back pitching with the Dunedin Blue Jays, a little over a year after having his first professional season cut short with a UCL injury that required an internal brace procedure.

The former fourth-round pick, fresh out of Calvary Christian High School, was making serious waves in his first couple of pro starts just before the injury, so much so that Maroudis was quickly entering the Blue Jays’ top 10 prospect rankings from outlets such as Baseball America after just a 10-inning sample size. The combination of pitchability, stuff, and mound presence was that impressive.

The right-hander, as mentioned, had his season cut short on May 2nd, 2024, after it was revealed he had a UCL injury. Maroudis and the Jays opted to go the internal brace operation route rather than having Tommy John surgery. The recovery took 12 months, as Maroudis made his first rehab start in early May in the Florida Complex League (FCL).

Since his return, Maroudis’s fastball velocity has decreased compared to his previous numbers. Before the injury, the 20-year-old right-hander was operating at around 94-96 MPH with his heater. Since he’s comeback, however, it’s been in the 89-91 range and topping out around 92 MPH. It’s something to monitor for sure, but not a reason for panic, as we’ve seen a history of pitchers who have come back from the internal brace procedure specifically and had their velocity slowed, played before eventually returning to normal (Spencer Strider being the most recent example of this).

Despite the diminished velocity, the Florida product hasn’t allowed a run to score in two starts covering eight innings since being returned to single-A, even with the fact that he’s not striking many guys out (22% K rate), while walking a few too many (14.8%). Inducing lots of soft contact is something that’s continued to be a trend for Maroudis and has allowed him leeway while he irons out his stuff.

What hasn’t changed for Maroudis is the nastiness of his curveball as evidenced above. While the whiff rates on his fastball and sinker have dropped, his curveball and slider are right in line with where they were in 2024.

With two distinct bat-missing breaking balls, and three distinct variations of a fastball (sinker/4-seam/cutter), the right hander has a true starters arsenal and all the ingredients to be a damn good one. Right now, he’s in catch-up mode, trying to sync up his mechanics while simultaneously attempting to refine his command and recapture his normal velocity. Once he’s back to speed and back to being – for lack of a better term – Landen Maroudis, the ceiling is exponentially high for this young right-hander who won’t celebrate his 21st birthday until December 16th.

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