JUPITER -- From the time he was drafted, it took Josh Beckett just 826 days to throw his first pitch for the Marlins. For Jose Fernandez, the interval from draft to Marlins debut was 672 days.
But the process for Tyler Kolek is taking longer. Much longer.
When the Marlins selected Kolek with the third overall pick in the 2014 amateur draft, the expectations were that the hard-throwing Texan might soon be the next great thing.
Here it is three years later, though, and Kolek remains a work in progress. He has yet to advance past the low minors and is coming off Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss all of 2016.