Archie Bradley Headed to the DL

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Dbacks&amp;src=hash">#Dbacks</a> announce Reno <a href="https://twitter.com/Aces">@Aces</a> pitcher Archie Bradley has been placed on 7-day DL with a mild flexor strain in his right elbow.</p>&mdash; Steve Berthiaume (@BertDbacks) <a href="https://twitter.com/BertDbacks/statuses/461217952931381249">April 29, 2014</a></blockquote>

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As some around here had feared, it seems that Archie Bradley is indeed suffering from some arm fatigue issues. After going down to the wire in Sydney to secure a spot in the Diamondback rotation, Archie Bradley returned to Reno as the best right-handed pitching prospect in baseball. Initially, most expected it to be a short stay in AAA, as the consensus seemed to be that he was merely going to get to work on location while awaiting an eventual injury or bout of ineffectiveness to strike the big club's rotation.

The Diamondbacks' poor start to the season, combined with Bradley's solid (if unspectacular) outings even led Bradley's manager to openly criticize the club for not calling the young hurler up. Unfortunately, for Bradley, things have gone from bad to worse though. Instead of being poised for the big leagues just waiting for the phone to ring at any moment that would be the call to send him packing to Phoenix, Bradley has had three consecutive poor outings. 

In Bradley's last three starts, he has only managed 12.1 innings. He has allowed 12 runs, all of them earned, while walking 8 and surrendering 19 hits compared to only 15 strikeouts. This three-game run of poor performances, combined with this season's rash of pitching injuries caused some to worry that there might be something beyond a poor mental state going on. It seems that there might indeed be some basis for those fears now.