NEW YORK – Marlins left-handed reliever Andrew Nardi will miss three months with a significant stress reaction in his left rib, manager Clayton McCullough revealed Sunday.
Nardi, who landed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to Thursday) ahead of Saturday’s 6-1 loss to the Mets at Citi Field, had been awaiting a timeline for recovery. It turned out to be a lengthier one.
"He's been feeling this for a while," manager Clayton McCullough said Saturday. "He was able to pitch, and when we got here, he had mentioned it was just getting harder for him to get loose. He felt worse when we got here to New York, so had the imaging done, and the IL placement was going to be necessary."
Nardi, who has a 5.16 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 4.4 BB/9 and 10.7 K/9 in 25 outings this season, last pitched on Wednesday against the Blue Jays. In a season-high-tying 1 1/3 innings, he surrendered the decisive solo homer in the sixth.
The 27-year-old Nardi told MLB.com postgame Saturday that he first felt the discomfort during the April 13-15 series in Atlanta but had been managing it.
"That last outing in Toronto might have just pushed it over the edge," Nardi said. "It's been a little bit difficult breathing lately, and then even on the off-day here, I woke up and it kind of hurt to roll over a little bit, and I felt it, so just went and got it checked out."
According to Nardi, it didn't affect him while throwing off the mound, but rather during the build-up to that point. It also didn't impact his velocity or quality of stuff, but he would feel the discomfort in the back of his rib.
"Honestly, in game, didn't feel that at all," Nardi said.
Nardi had already thrown 22 2/3 frames in 2026 after missing all of ‘25 with recurring back trouble and having his ‘24 cut short by a left elbow muscle injury (49 2/3 innings). It wasn’t until this past Spring Training that Nardi felt good enough to take the mound in game action, and then he showed enough to round out the Opening Day roster despite the long hiatus.
"Unfortunately I've been in that situation already [rehabbing], and it sucks," said Nardi, who will still travel with the team through the rest of the road trip. "Definitely unfortunate right now, especially after missing all last year, but just got to keep my head up and keep going."
In Nardi's absence, Miami’s bullpen features two other southpaw options: veteran John King (1.93 ERA in 26 appearances) and second-year player Cade Gibson (8.59 ERA in five outings). Despite an inconsistent season in his return from injury, Nardi had a team-high eight holds.
"We have options from the right side that also we feel very confident they can go take down left-handed hitters," McCullough said on Sunday. "Nardi has been thrust in some very leverage spots for us. He's been an important piece so far. Having Nardi down for that length of time is not ideal, but you know what? Someone else will go take those innings and those opportunities, and [we] feel like that we have a very capable group that can do that."
Miami recalled right-hander William Kempner as the corresponding roster move, and he threw a perfect eighth inning on 12 pitches while maxing out at 97.5 mph. Kempner became the second rookie reliever recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville this weekend, joining righty Josh Ekness (corresponding roster move for Eury Pérez).
Protected from the Rule 5 Draft this past offseason, Kempner made his Major League debut earlier this month and tossed a perfect inning on eight pitches against the Orioles on May 5 at loanDepot park. In 19 games for Triple-A Jacksonville, Kempner had a 4.56 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP, but a 16.1 K/9 rate and five saves.
"We like Will a lot," McCullough said. "Since we acquired him, he really had a nice year last year, finished strong, and then coming into this season, he looked good in spring. It's a unique slot. He's kind of got the up shoot with the velocity, can spin it, and he was throwing well in Triple-A. We believe [he's] another quality arm that certainly can provide us some depth right now, but moving forward we believe [he] can be a big part of our 'pen."