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Adrian Del Castillo

A.J. Puk Undergoes Elbow Surgery; Gabriel Moreno Diagnosed With Fractured Finger

By Anthony Franco | June 21, 2025 at 9:54pm CDT

June 21: MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert reports that A.J. Puk underwent internal brace surgery and not a Tommy John procedure. Tommy Henry, however, will require Tommy John. Gilbert adds that Justin Martinez, another D-backs pitcher in need of Tommy John surgery, will have his operation performed next week.

June 20: Diamondbacks reliever A.J. Puk underwent elbow surgery today, manager Torey Lovullo tells the Burns & Gambo show. Puk had visited Dr. Neal ElAttrache after experiencing recurring soreness as he tried to work back from a flexor strain. Lovullo didn’t have specific details as to whether he required a full Tommy John ligament replacement or some kind of modified internal brace procedure. Puk’s season is over in either case. He’s likely to miss most or all of 2026 as well.

Additionally, the manager told Burns & Gambo that catcher Gabriel Moreno has a hairline fracture in his right index finger. The D-Backs placed Moreno on the 10-day injured list yesterday but had initially called it a hand contusion. He has evidently been playing through an undiagnosed fracture for some time. A return timetable is unclear but will be measured in “weeks, not days.” Topping it all off, Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reports that left-hander Tommy Henry is also headed for season-ending elbow surgery.

The news on Puk is terrible but unsurprising. He has been plagued by elbow issues for the past two months. He’d undergone Tommy John surgery once before in his career. The 6’7″ southpaw required the procedure in 2018 when he was a member of the A’s farm system. He missed that season and was limited to 28 combined appearances between the minors and MLB the following year.

Acquired from the Marlins at the 2024 deadline, Puk has been one of the most dominant relievers in the sport since getting to Arizona. He recorded 43 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings after the trade last summer, working to a 1.32 ERA in the process. He had fanned 12 more hitters against two walks while collecting four saves in his first eight appearances this year. Aside from a terrible stint in Miami’s rotation early last season, he has been generally excellent since the A’s traded him to Miami over the 2022-23 offseason.

Depending on the nature of the surgery, there’s a decent chance this will end his time with the D-Backs. Puk has over five years of MLB service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the final time next offseason. He’d earn only a modest raise on this year’s $2.95MM salary, but a full ligament repair would make him a non-tender candidate. Players usually require 14-plus months to return from Tommy John surgery, and that would be Puk’s second such procedure. He’s likely to be out through next year’s All-Star Break even if he “only” needed the internal brace procedure, though the D-Backs would happily retain Puk for around $3MM if they felt they could get half the season from him.

The news on Puk comes a week after the news that Justin Martinez, the team’s other top reliever, also needs to go under the knife. Corbin Burnes and Jordan Montgomery have been Tommy John victims in the rotation. It’s difficult for any team to weather that kind of injury luck. Arizona has hovered around .500 despite having an elite offense because of their issues on the mound.

They’ll lose Moreno from that lineup for what seems like a decent chunk of time. There’s a significant drop off to light-hitting backup Jose Herrera. The Snakes selected Aramis Garcia to work off the bench behind Herrera. Adrian Del Castillo is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. He’s a far better hitter than either Herrera or Garcia but isn’t regarded as a great defender. Del Castillo won’t be an option in the immediate future regardless, as he landed on the Triple-A injured list today with what is expected to be a minor back injury. Moreno will be the clear starting catcher once he’s healthy, but his injury could lead the Snakes to pursue a veteran #2 who can provide more punch than Herrera offers.

Henry, 27, is a former second-round pick who has a 5.07 ERA over 37 career appearances. He has an ERA above 8.00 over 11 starts in Triple-A Reno this year. This is his final minor league option season and he seems unlikely to stick on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason. His elbow injury occurred in Triple-A, so he’s on the minor league injured list. He’ll continue to count against the 40-man for now. The D-Backs may place him on the MLB 60-day IL or simply decide to release him (which would save them a bit of money relative to putting him on the MLB injured list) once they need another roster spot.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Newsstand A.J. Puk Adrian Del Castillo Gabriel Moreno Tommy Henry

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Diamondbacks Outright Rene Pinto

By Nick Deeds | March 29, 2025 at 8:10pm CDT

Catcher Rene Pinto has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Reno by the Diamondbacks, according to Alex Weiner of AZ Sports. Pinto does not have the requisite service time or previous outright necessary to reject the assignment, so he’ll remain in the organization as non-roster depth going forward.

Pinto entered camp with Arizona in the mix to back up Gabriel Moreno alongside Adrian Del Castillo and Jose Herrera. The job ultimately went to Herrera, which necessitated the club designating Pinto for assignment as he had no minor league options remaining. The 28-year-old signed with the Rays out of Venezuela as an amateur and made his pro debut back in 2014. He’s spent his entire pro career in a Rays uniform prior to this winter, when the Rays DFA’d him in November and he was claimed off waivers by the Orioles. He stuck with Baltimore throughout much of the offseason but was DFA’d once again to make room for Charlie Morton on the club’s 40-man roster, at which point he was claimed by Arizona.

Pinto made his big league debut with the Rays back in 2022. The cup of coffee lasted only 25 games, and he hit just .213/.241/.325 during that time. Despite that meager performance in the majors, however, Pinto turned in a strong season at Triple-A as he slashed a strong .266/.320/.521 across 73 games at the level. That was enough to earn Pinto additional opportunities in Tampa, and he generally performed much better in them. 2023 saw Pinto appear in 38 games in the majors, hitting a respectable .252/.267/.456 with six homers in just 103 trips to the plate.

That intriguing combination of power and strong defense behind the plate was enough to make the Rays comfortable making Pinto their starting catcher to open the 2024 season. Unfortunately, Pinto didn’t last very long in the role. While he hit a respectable .214/.292/.429 that clocked in above league average over 19 games, those would be the only 19 games Pinto would play in the majors last year as he ceded playing time to a tandem of Ben Rortvedt and Alex Jackson. The catcher didn’t exactly go on to make a case for himself to get another shot in the majors upon being optioned to Triple-A, either, hitting just .191/.257/.373 in 53 games for the club’s Durham affiliate.

Now that Pinto has cleared waivers and been outrighted to the minors, he likely stands as the next man up to help out behind the plate in the event of an injury to either Moreno or Herrera. Normally, that role would appear more likely to go to Del Castillo given that he remains on the 40-man roster while Pinto does not, Weiner notes that Del Castillo has been placed on the minor league’s 7-day injured list. It’s unclear what ailment is bothering Del Castillo or how long he’ll be out of action at this point, but until he returns he won’t be able to serve as a fill-in catcher in the majors fro the Diamondbacks.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Adrian Del Castillo Rene Pinto

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Diamondbacks Select Adrian Del Castillo

By Darragh McDonald | August 6, 2024 at 2:30pm CDT

2:30pm: The Diamondbacks have officially announced these moves and others. Del Castillo has been selected and Moreno has been placed on the IL with a strained left adductor. They also reinstated left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez from the 60-day IL, a move that was reported last week. To activate Rodriguez, the club optioned right-hander Humberto Castellanos and transferred righty Bryce Jarvis to the 60-day IL. It was also reported last week that Jarvis is unlikely to return this year due to his sprained right elbow.

12:40pm: The Diamondbacks are going to place catcher Gabriel Moreno on the 10-day injured list with a groin injury, per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on X. Fellow backstop Adrian Del Castillo will have his contract selected to take Moreno’s place on the roster. The Snakes already had a 40-man vacancy so no further moves will be required.

Moreno came up limping during yesterday’s game while trying to run out a ground ball. He was removed from the contest with what the team described as a strained left groin. It’s still unclear how long he is expected to be out of action but it’s a rough blow for the Diamondbacks regardless. Moreno is slashing .262/.344/.385 this year for a 107 wRC+ with strong defensive grades as well. FanGraphs considers him to have been worth 2.4 wins above replacement in 86 games.

It’s the second IL stint of the year for Moreno, who also missed some time at the end of June due to a sprained left thumb. Prior to that, he had been sharing the catching duties with Tucker Barnhart, with José Herrera called up to pair with Barnhart in Moreno’s absence. Once Moreno was ready to return in early July, the club decided to keep Herrera around, with Barnhart designated for assignment and eventually released.

That left the Diamondbacks with Moreno and Herrera as the only two backstops on the 40-man roster. Now that Moreno is heading to the IL again, they need to reach into their non-roster depth, which gets Del Castillo up to the majors for the first time.

Now 24 years old, Del Castillo was selected with a competitive balance pick in 2021, going 67th overall in that year’s draft. Baseball America ranked him #29 in Arizona’s system coming into this year but he has launched himself up to #16 in their most recent update. He was #36 at FanGraphs earlier in the year.

BA considers him subpar defensively but strong at the plate, which has shown up at times during his minor league career. That’s especially true here in 2024, which is likely why he earned such a notable bump in the BA rankings. In 100 Triple-A games this year, he has 24 home runs, an 11.5% walk rate and a 16.8% strikeout rate. His .319/.403/.608 batting line translates into a 143 wRC+ even in the hitter-friendly environs of the Pacific Coast League.

If he can bring even a small portion of that production up to the big leagues with him, it will go a long way towards compensating for the loss of Moreno. Herrera has hit just .229/.308/.286 this year for a 72 wRC+ with his glovework graded as near league average. Perhaps Del Castillo can outperform him at the plate but even top prospects can struggle when first exposed to the majors. The club will also have to consider that Herrera has a head start on Del Castillo in terms of building relationships with the pitching staff.

The Snakes are currently 61-52 and essentially in a three-way tie for the National League Wild Card spots with Atlanta and San Diego. Atlanta is 60-51 and percentage points ahead of the two other clubs, who are each 61-52. The Mets are just 1.5 games back of that group and five other clubs are just behind New York. With that crowded playoff race, the importance of every game will be magnified going forward. The catching situation will likely evolve in the coming weeks, depending on how much time Moreno needs to miss and how Del Castillo performs in his first taste of the majors. Herrera is in his final option year and will be out of options in 2025.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Adrian Del Castillo Bryce Jarvis Eduardo Rodriguez Gabriel Moreno Humberto Castellanos

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