Fish Stripes Unfiltered Episode 34: Interview with Marlins LHP Jake Eder

Feb 3, 2023 - 3:00 PM

Jake Eder took the MLB prospect universe by storm in 2021. He’s fully “ready to go” after missing last season due to Tommy John surgery rehab.

Isaac Azout, Kevin Barral and Ely Sussman give their quick thoughts on recent Miami Marlins news, then interview Eder (9:45) about the following topics:

• Immediate minor league success in his professional debut
• Flashback to the MLB Future Game at Coors Field
• Friendship with fellow Marlins prospect Max Meyer
• Expected 2023 regular season workload
• What he learned about himself during the rehab process
• The MLB pitcher he likes watching most
• Seeing his name back on top prospect lists again

Enjoy Episode 34!

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During his phenomenal 2021 season with Double-A Pensacola, Eder led all Marlins MiLB starting pitchers (min. 60 IP) in earned run average (1.77) and fielder independent pitching (2.48). But he last pitched competitively in Aug. 13 of that year after suffering a left UCL injury that required Tommy John surgery.

Disappointing as it was to miss the 2022 campaign and see his potential major league debut pushed back, Eder considered it a productive year for him.

“When you have something like this happen, you have an opportunity,” Eder says. “You’d never get this time. You’d never get a year to just work on your stuff like this. I take advantage of it.”

Eder says he learned a lot about his body and how to stay in the best shape possible with proper nutrition. He has made “subtle changes” to his delivery with the goal of being “more efficient” and “more connected.” After rarely using his changeup against Double-A opponents, he’s optimistic that all the time he has spent working on it will make it a valuable part of his pitch mix moving forward.

In recently updated rankings, Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, The Athletic, ESPN and Fish On The Farm agree that Eder is a top-10 prospect in the Marlins farm system. The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked him as baseball’s 97th overall prospect and he just missed the Top 100 for ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.

The Marlins have not provided any specifics about what his 2023 workload will be, Eder says. It’s safe to assume that the 24-year-old won’t break camp with the big league team—he isn’t even among Miami’s non-roster invitees. However, he continues to see himself as a long-term starting rotation candidate and hopes to go through this season with as few restrictions as possible.

Follow Isaac (@IsaacAzout), Kevin (@kevin_barral), Ely (@RealEly) and Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) on Twitter. Full coverage here at FishStripes.com.

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Fish Stripes is ranked by Feedspot as the world’s No. 2 Miami Marlins podcast (trailing only the pod that’s produced by the franchise itself). Our programs include The Offishial Show, Big Fish Small Pod, Fish Stripes Unfiltered and Earning Their Stripes. All new episodes are posted to FishStripes.com/podcasts. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, Megaphone or wherever you normally get your pods from.