The D-backs announced a series of roster moves Monday, activating right-hander Shelby Miller from the 60-day disabled list, placing fellow righty Clay Buchholz on the 10-day disabled list due to a strained left oblique muscle and releasing right-hander Stefan Crichton, who’d been on the minor league disabled list due to a shoulder injury.
For Miller, this will mark his return from a 14-month absence due to Tommy John surgery. He ramped up for his return with four minor league rehab starts between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, working to a combined 4.66 ERA with a much more impressive 28-to-6 K/BB ratio.
While Miller’s first season with the D-backs following the infamous Ender Inciarte/Dansby Swanson trade was an unequivocal disappointment, the righty was displaying some signs of a rebound last season at the time of his injury. Miller only made four starts last season and pitched just 22 innings, but he notched a solid 4.09 ERA with 20 strikeouts against 11 unintentional walks. More heartening, perhaps, was the fact that the lost life on his fastball had been rediscovered; after averaging a career-low 93 mph on his heater in 2016, he averaged 94.9 mph in 2017 prior to undergoing surgery.
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Miller’s return could prove to be critical for a D-backs rotation that has lost Taijuan Walker for the season and is currently without left-hander Robbie Ray (who, like Buchholz, is dealing with an oblique injury). Ray is on a minor league rehab assignment right now, and a starting five that includes him, Zack Greinke, Patrick Corbin, Zack Godley and a healthy Miller could prove formidable if Miller is closer to the pitcher who notched a 3.57 FIP in 2017 than he is to his 2016 form (6.15 ERA, 4.87 FIP).
Buccholz’s injury is hardly insignificant itself. After the Royals decided not to give him a look in the Majors earlier this year, he signed a minor league pact with the D-backs and has been something of a savior to their injury-plagued staff. Through seven starts and a total of 38 2/3 innings, Buchholz has compiled an outstanding 2.56 ERA with a 31-to-7 K/BB ratio and a 40.7 percent ground-ball rate.
As for Crichton, the D-backs acquired him back on April 2, sending a player to be named later or cash to the Orioles. He ultimately never pitched in the Majors for the D-backs, and he was hit exceptionally hard in Triple-A before landing on the disabled list. In 16 innings there, Crichton logged a disastrous 10.13 RA with 17 strikeouts against eight unintentional walks and four home runs. That said, the 26-year-old was nothing short of excellent in Triple-A last year. In 47 2/3 there last season, a healthier Crichton notched a tidy 3.02 ERA with 9.4 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9.
Good for Miller. I enjoyed watching him pitch for the Braves, hopefully he’s able to recover and be an effective pitcher again
Clay Buchholz always gets injured when he’s pitching well (2011, 2013, 2015). The only recent seasons where he hasn’t spent significant time on the DL were his worst (2012, 2014, 2016. Maybe rebranding as a reliever could help?
Good call. Now that you mention it Buchholz’s performance never declined as a result of injury – he always went down when he was peaking. Allergic to success?
A 4.66 ERA for advanced A and AA seems concerning.
This is why ERA is misleading. Big difference between A/AA and the Majors when it comes to fielding of balls in play. K/BB is a much better indicator of what he can control himself.
That argument has tons of holes in it. He could be serving up fastballs right down the middle all day and have a nice K/BB ratio. There’s many more things you need to look at. K/BB ratio alone is less informative than ERA. FIP might be the measure you’re looking for.
Maybe, maybe not. Veterans go down to get a feel for their pitches, not to practice game management or to pad their stats.
Just curious, could a player to be named later ever end up being the same player that was traded?
Yes, I believe it’s happened before.
Dan, often times team ‘a’ will give the team ‘b’ a list of players they can pick from. Then team ‘b’ does their homework before choosing who they want. But, i don’t see why the teams couldn’t just reverse the trade like you suggest.