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Christian Montes De Oca

Diamondbacks Place Justin Martínez On IL With UCL Sprain

By Darragh McDonald | June 10, 2025 at 6:15pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced a series of roster moves today. Right-handers Kevin Ginkel and Bryce Jarvis have been recalled from Triple-A Reno and the club has also selected the contract of right-hander Tayler Scott. To open spots for those three, righty Jeff Brigham has been optioned to Reno while righties Justin Martínez and Christian Montes De Oca have both been placed on the 15-day injured list. Martínez has a sprained right ulnar collateral ligament while Montes De Oca has right elbow inflammation. To open a 40-man spot for Scott, righty Cristian Mena has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

The news on Martínez is ominous. The righty called the training staff to the mound during last night’s appearance. It was later relayed to reporters that he was experiencing elbow tightness. A sprain, by definition, involves some stretching or tearing of the ligament. Per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, manager Torey Lovullo says Martínez is now set for a second opinion on his injury.

Whenever a pitcher’s elbow is injured, it raises alarm bells about a possible surgery and those concerns certainly appear to be warranted here. It should be pointed out that not all sprains necessarily lead to a operation. To pick one recent example, Mason Miller was diagnosed with a mild UCL sprain in May of 2023 and ultimately did not head to the surgeon’s table. However, it took him four months to get back on the mound, as he wasn’t reinstated from the IL until September of that year.

It may take a few more days to determine the prognosis with Martínez but it seems like it will be an unfortunate development regardless. The righty seemed to break out as one of the best relievers in the sport last year. He tossed 72 2/3 innings for the Diamondbacks with a 2.48 earned run average. His 11.7% walk rate was certainly high but he struck out 29.5% of opponents and got grounders on 58.9% of balls in play.

The Diamondbacks believed in that breakout enough to lock up Martínez for the long term. He and the club agreed to a five-year extension in March that guarantees him $18MM, with two club options as well. Unfortunately, the first season of that deal has been a bit of a bust so far. Martínez already missed about three weeks due to some shoulder inflammation and is now back on the IL again with an even scarier diagnosis. He has only been able to throw 15 1/3 innings with a 4.11 ERA this year.

Martínez and A.J. Puk were supposed to be the two big weapons in the Arizona bullpen this year. Puk made just eight appearances before landing on the IL in mid-April due to elbow inflammation. He was later diagnosed with a flexor strain and transferred to the 60-day IL. His return timeline is unclear. Now it seems possible the Snakes may have to proceed without either of those hurlers for a while. They also put Kendall Graveman on the 15-day IL yesterday due to a hip impingement.

It’s the latest punch in what has been a bruising season for the Diamondbacks. They have lost starters Corbin Burnes and Jordan Montgomery to Tommy John surgery. Their bullpen has taken a number of hits. Some of their healthy pitchers have been underperforming. Though the Snakes came into the season with high hopes, they are now fourth in the National League West and 5.5 games back in the Wild Card race, a less than ideal time to be hemorrhaging key players.

If Martínez does have a serious injury, there would be one silver lining for the Diamondbacks in the long term. His extension has a conditional club option for 2032, valued at just $3MM. That would be triggered if he requires surgery or missed a certain number of days on the IL during the course of the deal.

While the club awaits for information there, they have to proceed with the business of the games on the schedule. They have added a number of arms to the active roster, which includes adding Scott to the 40-man. The 33-year-old Scott elected free agency last month after being designated for assignment by the Astros, which led to a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks.

He seemed to have a nice late-bloomer breakout with Houston last year, posting a 2.23 ERA over 68 2/3 innings. He struck out 25.2% of batters faced, though also gave out walks at a 12.4% pace. There was likely a bit of luck in that ERA, as his .230 batting average on balls in play and 84.9% strand rate were both to the fortunate side. ERA estimators like his 4.13 FIP and 4.04 SIERA pointed to some regression though still suggested he could be a capable big league arm.

The pendulum swing ended up being quite strong. He posted a 5.40 ERA through 16 2/3 innings to start this year. His .313 BABIP and 65.2% strand rate went to the other side of average as his strikeout rate fell to 20.5% and his walk rate climbed to 15.4%.

Since he’s out of options, that got him bumped off the roster and to free agency. Since landing with the D’Backs, he has thrown 3 1/3 scoreless innings for Reno. He may have a tenuous grasp on a roster spot, given his out-of-options status, but he, Ginkel and Jarvis will give the club three fresh arms after they used eight different pitchers to get through yesterday’s 11-inning game against the Mariners.

As for Mena, he just landed on the IL a few days ago with a shoulder strain. Lovullo said his absence would be measured in “weeks, not days.” Given today’s IL transfer, he will be ineligible for reinstatement until early August.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Bryce Jarvis Christian Montes De Oca Cristian Mena Jeff Brigham Justin Martinez Kevin Ginkel Tayler Scott

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Diamondbacks Place Kendall Graveman On 15-Day IL

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2025 at 8:30pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced that right-hander Kendall Graveman was placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to June 8) due to an impingement in his right hip.  Righty Christian Montes De Oca was called up from Triple-A Reno to take Graveman’s spot on the active roster.

After missing all of 2024 recovering from shoulder surgery, Graveman’s 2025 debut was delayed until May 13 due to a season-opening stint on the 15-day IL due to a lumbar strain.  Graveman then posted a 2.45 ERA over his first 7 1/3 innings and eight appearances for the Snakes before he struggled through a brutal outing in Saturday’s 13-1 Arizona loss to the Reds.  Graveman was charged with six earned runs over just one inning of work, shooting his ERA up from 2.45 to 8.64.

It is fair to wonder if this hip problem was to blame for Graveman’s rough game, though some other red flags were there even before he took the mound on Saturday.  Graveman has more walks (five) than strikeouts (three) over 8 1/3 total innings, and his 30% grounder rate is well below the 50.9% career groundball rate Graveman had posted over his nine previous big league seasons.  His signature sinker is averaging 94.6mph, which is down from a 95.9mph average in 2023, though an early-season velocity drop isn’t unusual for a pitcher just coming back from a long layoff.

Unfortunately for Graveman, that nightmare against Cincinnati will represent his last game for at least a couple of weeks.  This latest trip to the IL can hopefully allow the veteran to fully put his health issues behind him, and an in-form Gravement would sorely help a struggling D’Backs bullpen.  Given how Arizona has a 31-34 record, Graveman (who is only signed through the 2025 season, with a mutual option for 2026) would be an obvious trade chip as a rental player if the Diamondbacks can’t get back into contention.

In other unwelcome news on the pitching injury front, righty Cristian Mena’s right shoulder strain is specifically a teres major strain, as manger Torey Lovullo told Arizona Sports’ Alex Weiner and other reporters.  Mena was placed on the 15-day IL on Saturday, but Lovullo said Mena’s absence will be measured in “weeks, not days.”

The 22-year-old Mena made his MLB debut with one three-inning start with the D’Backs last season, and this year had allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings over three relief appearances.  Mena was a candidate for some turns in the rotation given all of the injury problems faced by Arizona’s starters, but the righty himself has now joined the IL for what might be a lengthy period of time.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Christian Montes De Oca Cristian Mena Kendall Graveman

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Diamondbacks Select Aramis Garcia

By Nick Deeds | June 7, 2025 at 3:06pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced a series of roster moves this afternoon, headlined by the club selecting the contract of catcher Aramis Garcia. Right-hander Cristian Mena was placed on the 15-day injured list to make room for Garcia on the active roster, while the transfer of right-hander Corbin Burnes to the 60-day IL following yesterday’s news that the veteran is set to undergo Tommy John surgery cleared a 40-man roster spot for Garcia. In addition, Arizona appointed righty Christian Montes De Oca to the roster as their 27th-man for today’s doubleheader.

Garcia, 32, was a second-round pick by the Giants back in 2014 but didn’t ultimately make his big league debut until the 2018 season. Garcia came up to the majors in August of that year to help back up Nick Hundley after Buster Posey underwent season-ending hip surgery. He got time in both behind the plate and at first base that year, slashing .286/.302/.492 across 19 games in his first cup of coffee with the big league club, though that solid 117 wRC+ came in a sample of just 65 plate appearances. Still, Garcia’s work in that first taste of the majors was enough to convince the Giants to continue rostering him for the 2019 campaign.

Unfortunately, his performance took a nose dive in that second stint as a big leaguer. He ultimately hit just .143/.217/.310 in 46 trips to the plate for the Giants that year. Despite that lackluster performance, Garcia was still in line to make the Giants’ 2020 Opening Day roster as the primary backup to Posey. That’s not how things worked out, however, as an offseason hip injury combined with the shortened 60-game campaign left Garcia sidelined for the whole year. The Giants ultimately cut the catcher loose following the 2020 season and designated him for assignment. He was claimed off waivers by the Rangers and then included in the swap that sent Khris Davis to Dallas and Elvis Andrus to Oakland prior to the 2021 campaign.

Garcia’s largest contributions in the majors came during the next two seasons. He hit .205/.239/.318 (56 wRC+) in 32 games with the A’s in 2021, but was ultimately cut from the team’s roster and signed with the Reds on a minor league deal. In Cincinnati, Garcia appeared in a career-high 47 games but hit just .213/.248/.259 with a wRC+ of 37 before getting claimed by the Orioles following the 2022 season. He bounced between the Orioles and Phillies organizations over the past two years but made just three appearances in the majors in that time before signing with Arizona on a minor league deal this past winter. Now, he’s back in the majors as a depth option behind the plate with a doubleheader scheduled today and primary catcher Gabriel Moreno day-to-day following a hand injury he suffered in yesterday’s game.

Making room for Garcia on the active roster is Mena, who is being shelved with a right shoulder strain. The right-hander has long been regarded as a talented but raw pitching prospect and was acquired from the White Sox in exchange for outfielder Dominic Fletcher prior to the 2024 season. Mena made his big league debut last year and surrendered four runs across three innings in his lone appearance, but this year he’s looked quite good with 5 2/3 scoreless innings of work and a 35% strikeout rate in a multi-inning relief role. Unfortunately, he’ll now need to wait to heal up to build on that success. For today, Mena’s spot in the bullpen will be offered to Montes De Oca, who has not yet appeared in a big league game but has a 4.07 ERA in 24 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A this year.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Aramis Garcia Christian Montes De Oca Corbin Burnes Cristian Mena

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Diamondbacks Place Eduardo Rodríguez On IL With Shoulder Inflammation

By Darragh McDonald | May 16, 2025 at 5:30pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced today that left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 15th, with left shoulder inflammation. Lefty Joe Mantiply has also been optioned to Triple-A Reno. To take those two spots, the club has recalled right-hander Scott McGough and selected the contract of righty Christian Montes De Oca. The 40-man roster had two vacancies due to Garrett Hampson and José Castillo being designated for assignment earlier this week. Per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix, righty Ryne Nelson will take E-Rod’s rotation spot, taking the ball on Tuesday.

There haven’t been a lot of publicly reported details about Rodríguez or his injury, but it’s possible he was feeling it last time out. He started on Wednesday against the Giants but wasn’t very effective. He allowed four earned runs in four innings and was pulled after throwing just 76 pitches. The velocity on most of his offerings was down about one mile per hour relative to his previous start. Perhaps the club will provide more information but it seems the lefty will need to miss at least a couple of starts.

That will give Nelson a chance to retake a rotation spot, at least for now. He logged 150 2/3 innings for the Snakes last year, mostly as a starter. He had a 4.24 earned run average, 20% strikeout rate and 5.4% walk rate.

Despite those strong numbers, he got pushed down the depth chart when the Snakes signed Corbin Burnes in the offseason. Burnes joined a rotation group next to Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Jordan Montgomery and Rodríguez. Montgomery required Tommy John surgery in March, but Nelson was still unable to get a rotation job.

He opened the year in a long relief role and has thrown 26 1/3 innings with a 5.13 ERA, but better peripherals. He has struck out 25% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.9% clip. A low 62.5% strand rate is not doing him favors, perhaps why his FIP is 3.71 and his SIERA at 3.45.

Kelly, Gallen and Montgomery are all free agents at the end of this year, while Burnes has an opt-out after 2026. Nelson is under club control through 2028 and could perhaps earn a long-term rotation spot with some strong results this year. Though if Rodríguez returns in relatively short order, it’s possible Nelson finds himself back in the bullpen again.

Montes De Oca, 25, gets the call to the big leagues for the first time. An international amateur signing out of the Dominican Republic, he has 181 1/3 minor league innings under his belt to this point in his career. In that time, he has a 4.17 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate. He’s out to a good start this year, despite pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. In 19 Triple-A innings, he has a 2.37 ERA, 23.3% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate and 57.7% ground ball rate.

Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Christian Montes De Oca Eduardo Rodriguez Joe Mantiply Ryne Nelson Scott McGough

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