Snake bit is an understatement. The Arizona Diamondbacks have 4 players on either the 10 or 15 day IL and an additional 4 more on the 60 day IL. That doesn’t count Ryne Nelson, who was activated from the IL on Sunday or Zac Gallen who is supposed to be healthy according to Manager Torey Lovullo. Gallen was set to start Wednesday night, but the bee situation pushed Jordan Montgomery back a day, then the off day on Thursday and now he is the scheduled starter for the opening of a 3 game set in Cincinnati.

But, let’s focus on the good shall we. Along with Zac starting on the Queen City mound in Cincinnati Alek Thomas may be patrolling the center field grass and Paul Sewald may take that same mound in the 9th. Thomas was hampered and placed on the IL for a hamstring strain after only 4 games. Paul has not thrown a pitch for the Dbacks all season long. To get both of them back into the dugout and then out on the field would be a big boost to this ball club to say the least.

Before we get into Thomas and Sewalt, lets talk about the one guy they did get back and who made the start for Arizona on Sunday afternoon, Ryne Nelson. You may recall that Nelson was struck on the right elbow on April 18th by a line drive. He was not dominate, but he did get the win. In so doing, he gave up 4 runs, 8 hits and a walk while striking out 3 Padres. The 2nd round pick out of Oregon does not have dominate stats for the 2024 season either, he is 2-2 with a 5.23 ERA in his 5 starts. He has pitched 20.2 inning in those starts giving up 27 hits, 12 earned runs with 3 of them coming via the home run. He does have almost a 3/1 K/BB ratio with 16 K’s and only 6 BB’s. I would much rather a pitcher give up hits instead of free passes, essentially making teams earn the runs they collect.

Alek Thomas grounded into a double play against the Rockies on March 31st. He stayed in that game until the 4th inning. He was given an MRI on his left hamstring and was diagnosed with a strain between a 1 and 2 grade. He has been on a rehab assignment in Reno with the Aces for the past few days and seems likely to be activated before the night game in Cincinnati on Tuesday. Alek, much like Nelson above, was also a 2nd round pick of the Dbacks and only played in 4 games before the injury this season. In those 14 at bats he collected 3 hits, one of them a home run, with 4 RBI’s and a .214 average. When he comes back that will mark his 243rd career game with a career batting average of .230. Number 16 gives you great defense in center field, but he needs to grow and give a little more at the plate.

When Thomas does return it will finally give the Dbacks the outfield they envisioned. Thomas in center Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in left and Corbin Carroll in right. This will allow Jake McCarthy to become the 4th outfielder and Randal Grichuk to spell Thomas against lefties.

Paul Sewald is almost assured of being activated on Tuesday. Sewald has yet to throw a pitch in an MLB game this season as he suffered a grade 2 oblique strain at the end of Spring Training. He went to Reno on a AAA rehab assignment and pitched two-thirds of an inning on April 23rd. Following that he was slowed down as his next side session had him feel some discomfort. His next side session went well, and on Saturday he threw an inning in an extended Spring Training game with no adverse effects.

His return certainly stabilizes this bullpen that has just been treading water since the start of the season. It puts Kevin Ginkel back in his familiar set-up role puts Ryan Thompson in that 7th inning role and allows Torey to mix and match with the lefty Joe Mantiply and the righties Scott McGough and flame throwing Justin Martinez using Bryce Jarvis as the long relief guy.

but wait, there is more good injury news!

Lovullo told reporters before the game on Sunday that Eduardo Rodriguez is going to undergo more tests on his injured lat muscle and if everything comes back positive, he will begin a throwing program. The end of May is the earliest he can come off the 60 day IL, and honestly, since he has been completely shut down for multiple weeks, he will need some time to build back up. Therefore, even if all the tests have him ready to start that throwing program in the next week, it may be early June before we see E-Rod on a major league mound.

Lastly, we have a quote provided to us from Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports via Torrey Lovullo about Geraldo Perdomo;

 “Three weeks post surgery, so he’s gotta be careful with his next steps.  It’s getting close to him getting to full baseball activities and I’m excited about that,” 

That sounds encouraging, and it also lines up with the original time table given when the injury first occurred of 4-6 weeks.

Stats and Content Credit; MLB.com MLBTRADERUMORS.com

Photo Credits; WHYY, KGLO News

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