Hopefully Zac Gallen’s second start back will be better than his first.
Is there evidence to suggest that the Diamondbacks are guilty of “rushing” players back before they’re ready? There was much discussion about Zac Gallen coming back without a real rehab stint, just a start against some low-level prospects. And the doubters seemed to be proved correct, with his shortest, and one of the worst, starts he has made in an Arizona uniform. While he was never likely to go very deep into the game, Gallen didn’t get through three innings, allowing four runs in 2.2 innings. While hindsight is 20/20, that feels little or no better than what one of our replacement level pitchers would have given the team. But Gallen may not be the only such case.
Carson Kelly’s form has certainly not been what it was before he went on the injured list with a broken toe. At that point, he was hitting .338/.491/.613, for an OPS of 1.103. But from his return – still with a problem toe – until he was hit on the wrist, fracturing that as well, Kelly’s line was an anemic .171/.234/.286, a .519 OPS that was less than half of what he had produced before the injury. Ketel Marte has also experienced a significant drop-off, though in his case, that was likely inevitable. It’s not as if he was going to bat .462 the rest of the season, and his numbers have been very solid since: .336/.390/.467, for an .857 OPS. Perhaps we should just have taken Gallen’s first outing as a rehab one? We’ll see tonight.
Torey Lovullo notes
- Eduardo Escobar is once again out of the lineup but available off the bench. Tomorrow would be the last day they could retro-actively place him on IL, but Torey said that was not under consideration.
We about had a wrestling match in the weight room cuz he wanted to play and I told him it’s non-negotiable right now at this point to be in the starting lineup. The medical team is obviously going to be handling this one up to a certain point, and when they tell me it’s go time he’s going to find himself in the lineup.
- Taylor Widener live AB’s, threw two innings, 36 pitches, used all pitches
- J.B. Bukauskas threw 1 inning, 23 pitches.
- Matt Herges was in attendance and said both guys looked great.
- Kole Calhoun took 5 AB’s; he did not run the bases during AB’s, but dd later, with Torey watching at Chase. Next steps are for him to have live AB’s where he runs the bases, and then the last step will be a rehab assignment
- Madison Bumgarner felt good after his bullpen yesterday, but cannot be deemed to be on as fast a track as Zac Gallen was at this point.
- Torey was sporting a Valley T-Shirt in support of the Suns today and said when the team heads out to San Diego on Wednesday they will all be wearing Suns Gear.
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