The Diamondbacks placed right-hander Ryne Nelson on the 15-day injured list today with a strained right elbow, retroactive to June 16th. Fellow righty Yilber Díaz has been recalled in his place. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix reports that Nelson has a partially torn forearm flexor.
A flexor tear doesn’t necessarily indicate that Nelson is headed straight for surgery, though that’s a common outcome with this injury. He’ll be facing a lengthy absence regardless, and if surgery is the route Nelson takes, his season would surely be over. He’d be facing a monthslong recovery. Every injury and rehab process is unique unto itself, but we’ve seen flexor surgeries performed in midsummer sideline pitchers beyond Opening Day of the subsequent season.
Nelson hasn’t been having an amazing season, with a 4.97 earned run average across 15 starts. Regardless, the Snakes aren’t in a great position to weather the loss of more rotation depth. They were hoping to have Corbin Burnes back from last year’s Tommy John surgery around the All-Star break but he recently suffered a teres major strain and will likely be out until September. Cristian Mena underwent shoulder surgery earlier this month.
Despite the depth issues, the big league rotation has been fairly steady for a while. Merrill Kelly started the season on the IL but was reinstated in mid-April. Since then, every game has been started by the quintet of Kelly, Nelson, Zac Gallen, Michael Soroka and Eduardo Rodríguez. That will now be interrupted, forcing the club to bring someone else into the mix.
Brandon Pfaadt held a rotation spot for many years but he has struggled lately and got bumped to the bullpen when Kelly came off the IL. He wasn’t getting much use in that role, so the Snakes sent him down to the minors a couple of weeks ago with the plan of getting him stretched back out as a starter. That process began with him tossing three innings on June 9th and then 3 1/3 on June 14th. The latter contest saw him get up to 45 pitches. Presumably, the club would like him to keep building up before being recalled, though it’s possible they opt for him to get stretched out in big league games.
Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and Dylan Ray are also on the 40-man roster. Ray and Drake both have ERAs north of 6.00 this year. Bratt has a much better 2.84 ERA but just spent a couple of weeks on the minor league injured list. He returned on Wednesday and made a four-inning start. Non-roster options like Tommy Henry and Yu-Min Lin have ERAs above 5.00 this year, though Jose Cabrera has a solid 3.69 ERA. Today marks the beginning of 13 straight games for Arizona, so they’ll need some kind of plan to get through this stretch.
The overall group will be a situation to monitor going forward. General manager Mike Hazen has said he is planning on buying at the deadline but has also downplayed the need to add to the rotation. Perhaps this injury will change that calculus, especially if Pfaadt or someone else doesn’t come up and seize hold of a back-end job.
Turning back to Nelson, this injury is sure to have a negative impact on his earning power. He is in his first of three arbitration seasons and is making $3MM. He is due for two more raises before he hits free agency. This season’s poor numbers and a notable injury will hinder his ability to push up that salary next year. That, in turn, will impact his 2028 earnings.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
