As expected, the Diamondbacks reinstated Zac Gallen from the 15-day injured list today, as Gallen prepares to start Arizona’s game against the Athletics. Left-hander Brandon Hughes was optioned to Triple-A yesterday to open up a roster spot for Gallen’s return.
Gallen suffered a right hamstring strain just six pitches into a start on May 30, so he’ll now return to action after almost exactly a month off. The rehab process went pretty smoothly for the ace right-hander, as he didn’t even make any minor league rehab starts during his recovery. Gallen instead tossed live batting practice sessions, simulated games, and bullpens to ramp up and get ready, and a 67-pitch sim game last Monday was essentially the final step of the process. Once Gallen came out of a Thursday bullpen session feeling good, the D’Backs finalized their plans to start Gallen today against Oakland.
Needless to say, getting Gallen back after just a month is a sigh of relief for the Diamondbacks, considering how injuries have plagued Arizona’s rotation. Eduardo Rodriguez signed a four-year, $80MM free agent deal over the offseason but has yet to pitch after suffering a lat strain during Spring Training, and Merrill Kelly will be out until at least mid-August due to a teres major strain in his throwing shoulder. Jordan Montgomery’s late signing and subsequent late start to the season has also led to some inconsistent results for the left-hander, and between some other struggles for the younger starters, Arizona ranks only 27th of 30 teams in rotation ERA this season.
Gallen was again a bright light for the rotation, with a 3.12 ERA in his first 11 starts and 57 2/3 innings before his hamstring strain. Missing a month could hurt Gallen’s chances of his third straight top-five finish in NL Cy Young Award voting, yet helping get the Diamondbacks into contention again is surely the chief priority in Gallen’s mind. Despite the starting pitching concerns and a 39-43 record, the D’Backs are 3.5 games back of the last NL wild card spot, so getting even average results from the rotation could put Arizona more firmly in position for a second-half surge.
In other news about Rodriguez, manager Torey Lovullo told MLB.com and other media that the left-hander will undergo an MRI in a week to ensure that everything is progressing as expected with his lat muscle. Rodriguez has been throwing at distances of 105 feet, but if the MRI is clean, he’ll start a more intensive throwing program.
Welcome back, Zac. Looking great thru six innings and 77 pitches so far today. I would guess his limit is 80-85 pitches so we will see if he comes out for the seventh.
Of course TL wouldn’t let him go out there for the 7th. He’s way too quick with the hook way too often this season.
suffer
And if you were an actual MLB manager instead of an armchair quarterback, you would do the exact same thing!
The Dbacks’ starters (Gallen and Kelly) who carried them all the way to the WS last year, even though they were totally gassed, are paying the price with their health this year. The best thing that could happen for their health this year is to a) spend some time on the IL, and b) limit their innings. Both for the sake of their careers and for the sake of the possibility the Dbacks get back to the playoffs this year and make another deep run. The Dbacks won’t have to play any bullpen games in the playoffs!
So instead of criticizing Lovullo, thank him for protecting both of his pitchers’ careers and for looking ahead to give his team the best chance to succeed if the team makes it into the playoffs.
Nope, I stand by what I say.
Getting Gallen back now might just save their playoff aspirations and avoid losing spirals. Baseball is a momentum game. Winning a game and a series build momentum. Their offense can be really good and really bad and they need the pitching fresh and to hold leads. Otherwise it puts too much pressure on them and they have long runs droughts.