Right-hander Merrill Kelly was scratched from a live batting-practice session during Arizona Diamondbacks spring training after feeling left mid-back tightness. The pitcher, scheduled for Opening Day, is set for an MRI on Sunday to assess the injury. Manager Torey Lovullo described the concern as minimal while noting the team's recent history of pitching injuries.
In Scottsdale, Arizona, the Diamondbacks are proceeding cautiously with Merrill Kelly's back issue amid a pattern of pitching ailments. Kelly, who re-signed with the team this winter on a two-year, $40 million contract after being traded to the Texas Rangers at last year's Trade Deadline, experienced the tightness during a bullpen session on Saturday.
Kelly had warmed up for the live batting-practice but shut it down proactively. “We've been kind of just treating something, I guess in the mid back you can call it,” Kelly said. “Kind of changes throughout the days -- different days feel differently. And then I went to go throw in the bullpen today, got to around pitch 10, started feeling little stuff and then the last two to three, the sensation was enough that I, being proactive, just felt like it was time to shut it down.”
He noted feeling good during his second bullpen session of the spring but sensed discomfort after his weight room routine. “I don't have a concern level [yet],” Kelly added. “Because we don't know, at the end of the day, what it is. I mean, the last week and a half, I've been throwing, been doing everything normal, and it didn't kind of rear its head until today. So I'm going to take that as a good thing, the fact that I've felt it for that long but I've still been able to do everything.”
The MRI on Sunday will clarify the extent. Over the last 12 months, five Arizona pitchers have suffered elbow injuries requiring Tommy John surgery or internal brace procedures, including ace Corbin Burnes and co-closers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez, who will miss the season's start.
"The concern is legitimate, but Merrill knows himself so well, and I just appreciate that he didn't try to go full throttle and get to that next level if there's anything wrong," manager Torey Lovullo said. "So, for right now, I'm just going to say that [the concern is] minimal."