Suspended for Gambling, D-backs Pitcher on Road to Redemption

Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Andrew Saalfrank pitched a scoreless inning in his first game back from suspension on Tuesday night for the Triple-A Reno Aces. Suspended for one year due to violating Major League Baseball's gambling policy, Saalfrank was reinstated on June 5.

The young left-hander bet less than $500 in total over a period of time, and never bet on his own team. All bets took place while in the minor leagues. After serving his suspension and staying in shape, he was allowed to resume working out at the team's Salt River Fields complex starting in early May, and thus was able to hit the road running ready to begin his road back to the major leagues.

Manager Torey Lovullo spoke about Saalfrank during his pre-game comments on Wednesday.

"I know through my conversations over the past year with Andrew that he has learned a very valuable lesson. We know why he was forced to step away and he was deserving of that punishment."

Saalfrank has looked impressive to the manager from his early throwing. "He got into the throwing program and just took off from there. I saw his first outing. It seemed like he was throwing a really good breaking ball with a cutter."

Lovullo maintained contact with him throughout the process to make sure he didn't check out or become discouraged.

"Don't let the game get too far away from you. Pay attention to it. Watch the games, talk to your teammates," Lovullo said.

Lovullo went on to describe the pitcher's state of mind.

"In Andrew's case, he felt like he was a total outsider, like he let all of us down. I told him that's not the case. You made a mistake and you're owning up to that."

Still, it was a process to make sure he did that and didn't give up trying to stay connected and not isolate himself.

"It's easy to say, 'oh my God, will I ever get a chance? I made a mistake. Nobody's going to care about me.' That's the space he was living in at the very beginning of the suspension. But I think he worked through that."