Diamondbacks Shut Down A.J. Puk For The Year

The Diamondbacks are shutting down left-hander A.J. Puk for the year. Manager Torey Lovullo passed the news on to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. He is already on the 60-day injured list.

It’ll go down as a completely lost season. Puk opened the year on the injured list as he rehabbed last year’s UCL surgery. He suffered a capsule sprain in his shoulder this June that will prove season ending. There’s no indication he’ll need another surgery but the injury evidently hasn’t healed at the rate the team was hoping.

Puk has been limited to 38 appearances since the D-Backs acquired him from Miami at the 2024 deadline. He was exceptional down the stretch that year, working to a 1.32 ERA while striking out 42% of opponents. The elbow injury arose in April 2025 after eight appearances, in which Puk picked up four saves as their primary closer. He hasn’t thrown an MLB pitch since April 17, 2025.

Brandyn Garcia has had a breakout year to emerge as Lovullo’s top lefty reliever. He’s their only leverage option from the left side. Philip Abner, their other southpaw, is an up-and-down type who was most recently recalled on Wednesday. The Diamondbacks didn’t invest much in the bullpen over the winter and left it completely unaddressed at the deadline. They surely knew there was a possibility Puk wasn’t coming back by the time the deadline rolled around. Arizona should activate former closer Justin Martinez in a couple weeks. He’s progressing well in his rehab from Tommy John surgery and is currently on an assignment in the low minors.

Puk is making a $3.1MM salary and will be a free agent this offseason. He’ll probably command a major league contract given the upside but it’d be a low base salary, incentive-heavy deal even if he’s expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training.