The Diamondbacks received more encouraging news on the status of their closer. According to Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic , Paul Sewald has packed his bags for the team’s upcoming road trip through Cincinnati and Baltimore.
Sewald threw a scoreless inning with the organization’s Arizona Complex League affiliate on Saturday and felt great after the outing. He’s been out since March 25th with a left oblique strain, a six-week absence. In his absence, the Diamondbacks bullpen has struggled in close games. Collectively, they rank 27th in overall Win Probability Added (-0.90) and the third most meltdowns (26) through the first 34 games. FanGraphs defines a meltdown as a relief appearance that their team loses 0.06 WPA or more.
In his absence, Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson have stepped up to provide some stability in the back end of the bullpen. Ginkel has handled the closing duties in the interim, recording six saves in eight opportunities, and Thompson has a 1.42 ERA as the Diamondbacks’ primary setup man.
Additionally, Eduardo Rodríguez was seen in the Diamondbacks clubhouse and was in good spirits when talking to manager Torey Lovullo. Lovullo told reporters Rodríguez is set to get more imaging on his injured lat and could start another throwing program if the results are good.
Rodríguez suffered a left lat strain in a Spring Training game against the Chicago Cubs on March 19th. He began a throwing program a week after, but was shut down after experiencing symptoms a couple weeks later and imaging revealed he was not hitting specific benchmarks. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list on April 17th. Lovullo said on Monday he learned a valuable lesson when it came to handling injuries and when to push players.
The Diamondbacks starting rotation has held up fairly well despite the injuries this season. Youngsters Brandon Pfaadt and Slade Cecconi have stepped up to provide some quality starts over the past two weeks. The rotation already got some encouraging news involving Ryne Nelson, who has been activated off the 15-day injured list to start Sunday’s game against the San Diego Padres.
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