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Diamondbacks Hospital

An extended round-up, since we now have seven players on the DL, which seems like a season high. The usual mix of good and bad news. If we get any more wounded warriors, think I'm going to steal 'charmer's arrows from Trends!

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Fan Yang [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Eric Chavez

Chavez said his recovery from a strained oblique has been "going really well," and he has been learning about the injury from fellow Diamondback Willie Bloomquist, who passed Chavez in the DL night with a similar injury. "I'm just trying to gather as much information as I can about it, because this is my first time... I don't know if I can push it. I'm like, "Do I need to be careful?" It's going to be a little bit of a gray area, but if it feels good I'm going to try to push it and get back as fast as I can." On Sunday, he added, "The last three days I've been doing a lot, I'm doing more than I thought I'd be able to at this point." He should be able to start swinging a bat again, early next week.

Adam Eaton

After his setback, Eaton has been shut down, with Dr. James Andews backing the plan after looking at Eaton's MRI. He played catch on Monday, with no issues: he'll likely be out of action for three weeks, then they'll look at his elbow again. GM Kevin Towers said "If all goes well, he’s off and running," and hopes the young outfielder can avoid any need for surgery. Towers called the injury similar to the one suffered by Didi Gregorius, which started his season off on the DL, but warned against too much comparison. "People’s bodies heal in different ways. Hopefully this is nothing major. I think they were optimistic that with rest he should be able to come back and be fine."

Aaron Hill

After what seems like a long holding pattern for Hill, there finally seems to be progress, with Aaron taking regular batting practice, even though his hand has not fully healed. He said, "There’s no discomfort. It’s not perfect, but I’m not having to change my swing. It feels good, so I’m just going to keep going with it." Hill feels the main issue will be what happens when he gets jammed or hits the ball off the end of the bat. There's been suggestions that Hill could start a minor-league rehab assignment this week, and come back to the roster before the end of the month, but that seems speculation at this point.

Daniel Hudson

We already covered the prognosis for Hudson's recovery in depth, but worth adding more of his reaction. He doesn't think he tried to come back too quickly, pointing out "I was like three weeks ahead of 12 months, it wasn't like I was trying to come back in nine months." There didn't appear to have been any warning signs: "I felt great, that's why it was so hard to explain. I hadn't had a setback so there is just no way to tell, nothing was done wrong rehab-wise or surgery... The tendon just wasn't strong enough and it snapped." As yet, there has been no date made public for when Hudson will undergo the second Tommy John surgery.

Brandon McCarthy

The most troubling news was probably the seizure suffered by McCarthy in a Phoenix restaurant at Desert Ridge on June 3. He was treated at the Mayo Clinic, prescribed medication and kept overnight for observation, but the scan showed no apparent damage. He's optimistic the incident will not delay his return from the DL, originally estimated at being 4-5 weeks, and he's scheduled to start throwing again, any day now. McCarthy last pitched for the Diamondbacks on May 30th, so if all goes well, we could see him back shortly before the All-Star break. I wonder if Ian Kennedy can stretch out the appeal of his looming suspension to last until then?

J.J. Putz

Putz is working his way back, throwing his first bullpen session on Saturday, but it sounds like our closer was rattled a bit by Hudson's setback - understandable given their injuries were in the same area. He threw 20 pitches in a bullpen session on Saturday at Salt River Fields, with 20 more scheduled there for Tuesday. If all went well - and I've not heard either way - then there should be a simulated game in his near future, probably tomorrow. Putz didn't feel any pain from his first session: "I was able to lock in and kind of let it loose. I felt like the ball was coming out good. I threw all my pitches without any restrictions." One estimate has him returning June 18-22.

Matt Reynolds

The newest recruit to this list arrived on June 10, Reynolds hitting the DL with what has been diagnosed as a "slight tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow". Yep, that's now three pitchers out, with varying degrees of the same problem. Seems a lot. Reynolds' injury fits between Putz and Hudson in severity: surgery is not being considered at this point, but he will be shut down until after the All-Star break, so don't expect any radical updates on him for a while. Though he had a sub-two ERA for Arizona this year, since Matt's scoreless streak ended May 12, he has allowed 15 hits and four walks in 9.2 IP, for a 5.59 ERA. His elbow issue might be to blame.