Zach Davies left the Diamondbacks game against the Dodgers with a strained left oblique, the team announced. Davies pitched 4 1/3 innings (86 pitches), giving up four earned runs on five hits and four walks. While it’s too early to know the severity of the strain, obliques are always reason for concern and often require multiple weeks, and even months, on the sideline.
This was Davies’ second start of the year after re-signing on a one-year, $5MM deal with the Diamondbacks. In his first, he threw five innings of one run ball, giving up four hits and recording four strikeouts. Last year, Davies tossed 134 1/3 innings of 4.09 ERA ball over 27 starts for the Snakes.
The former Brewer, Padres and Cub has had a solid career in the bigs, providing useful back-of-the-rotation innings. All told, he owns a 4.12 ERA over 183 big league starts. His best year came in the shortened 2020 season with San Diego, when Davies worked to a 2.73 ERA across 12 starts.
This could open the door for the Diamondbacks to hand top pitching prospect Brandon Pfaadt a big league debut. Pfaadt is off to a rough start at Triple-A, giving up five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings in his only start, but he worked to a 2.63 ERA in ten starts there last year. The 24-year-old ranked fourth on Keith Law’s prospect rankings in The Athletic (38th in all of baseball), with Law describing him as “at least a mid-rotation starter”.
Tommy Henry is also at Triple-A and made nine starts for the Diamondbacks last season, and despite those starts going for a 5.36 ERA he could be an option if the team thinks Pfaadt needs more time to develop. They could also turn to former first round picks Blake Walston and Slade Cecconi as options to get their first taste of the big leagues.
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
We know you’re notZach’sEx, that’s for sure.
I see what you did there lmao
MLBTR’s is a great reminder that MLB players get injured seemingly non-stop.
These guys aren’t always hurt as bad as you think. Sometimes they just need an excuse for being bad, or just want a few days off.
Not necessarily a bad thing for them. He is not what he used to be. Drew Jameson time?
Drey*
I would have thought Jameson is a good chance to move from long-relief to rotation.
Jameson looks really good in relief. Perhaps they’d prefer someone else to start?
The question about Jameson being in the rotation or bullpen isn’t much about him (sadly); there are only 2 RP and 1 SP left on the 40-man, and neither of the RP can give the length that Drey does and Henry is preferred as an SP (plus, most of the MLB guys have looked good so far).
This isn’t an uncommon scenario for teams with multiple guys occupying IL spots, but it’s going to take some roster maneuvering to get/keep the best players at the MLB level.
He doesn’t throw hard enough to strain an oblique. More likely it was indigestion. Or a Goiter. Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk.
Has Jameson made himself too valuable in the bullpen, to now convert him back to the starting rotation? There are several excellent starters in AAA and AA, but the bullpen is starting to get thinned out. Replacing arguably the best late inning bullpen arm with a questionable minor league arm isn’t very optimal. I’d opt for Pfaadt, Henry or Ceccioni.
Following the D’Backs from afar, I love the usage of Jameson this year. Multiple leverage innings at a time. How sustainable is it? That’s great for a stretch, but can they ride him that hard all year? If he keeps doing it, it’s really valuable.
2 starts 2 no decisions for Davies, he’s nothing if not consistent…
Bullpen is pretty gassed right now, so a bullpen arm until Davies spot in the rotation rolls around again. Then call up a starter.
The question then becomes which bullpen arm is called up? The only pitchers left on the 40-man in MiLB are Henry, Martinez, and Misiewicz (and we still have a short while before Mantiply comes off of the IL).
They obviously want to keep Henry in an SP capacity, Martinez is not even 22, and Misiewicz is an unknown due to being a new addition. The bullpen still looks good in spite of being down 4 guys, but the 40-man is nearing the end of its rope for replacement arms (fingers crossed Joe is back soon).
highheat
Yeah, it’s a bit problematic on multiple levels, but keep it simple. I think the obvious candidate is Misiewicz. Don’t mess with the 40 man roster. Don’t promote the kid, Martinez, yet and start his clock. Because it’s a very short stint until Davies next start slot and Misiewicz might not even be needed, He’s just a stopgap not a solution, so make the least complicating move.
I agree with Misiewicz being the call; gets some reps out of him before the need to DFA someone pops up, because most of the fat was (fortunately) trimmed off of the roster.
He’s a bit redundant when Mantiply is back (do we really NEED a 4th LHRP?), and Melancon/Sulser are the viable DFA candidates for arms after him, which will be necessary when Robinson comes back, because all of the position players are more MLB ready than him.