Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo revealed today that right-handers Thyago Vieira and Josh Winder will both require Tommy John surgery, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Both righties had been in camp as non-roster invitees but each will now miss the entire 2025 season.
Vieira, 32, was claimed off waivers from the Orioles in June. The following month, the Snakes put him back on waivers and passed him through unclaimed. He was invited to big league camp and could have earned his way back into the majors. However, that clearly won’t come to pass now.
The righty debuted in the majors back in 2017. He pitched in Japan from 2020 to 2022 but was in each major league season around that. He has 66 2/3 big league innings pitched in the majors between the Mariners, White Sox, Brewers, Orioles and Diamondbacks. He has a 5.81 earned run average, 20.8% strikeout rate and 13.1% walk rate. He’ll turn 33 in January of 2026 as he approaches the one-year anniversary of this surgery.
Winder, 28, was a promising prospect not too long ago but injuries have derailed him in recent years. In 2021, he posted a 2.63 ERA across 14 minor league starts. Baseball America ranked him the #6 prospect in Minnesota’s system going into 2022.
Despite the solid results, shoulder issues cropped up in 2021 which impacted him for the next few years. He spent time on the minor league injured list due to shoulder injuries in each season from 2021 to 2023. Last year, he was on the major league IL for the first couple of months of the campaign due to a scapular stress fracture.
Around those shoulder issues, Winder tossed 110 2/3 major league innings from 2022 through 2024, posting a 4.39 ERA with an 18% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate. But he was mostly kept in the minors after getting healthy last year and had a 6.15 ERA at the Triple-A level, pitching mostly in relief. The Twins outrighted him off the roster at season’s end.
He elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks, presumably hoping for a fresh start with a new club. Instead, he’ll have to spend the rest of the year rehabbing with an eye on returning at some point in 2026. He’ll celebrate his 29th birthday this coming October. Since neither Winder nor Vieira had a 40-man roster spot, they won’t collect service time for the upcoming season.
For the Snakes, they have a strong relief group overall, something that MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently took a detailed look at. These injuries will deprive them of some non-roster depth, though there are still many unsigned pitchers who could be brought aboard as reinforcements. As Opening Day nears, other guys will also shake loose as clubs make their final camp cuts.