Fuentes gets another chance to star in the majors

Pressure can get the best of anybody and it got the best of Rey Fuentes after the Red Sox made him a first-round pick in 2009, giving him a $1,134,000 signing bonus as a young outfield prospect out of Puerto Rico.

Despite possessing all the tools, the talent never fully translated at the major-league level. The Red Sox traded him to the Padres as part of the Adrian Gonzalez-for-Anthony Rizzo deal. The Padres traded him to the Royals in 2014 for minor-league pitcher Kyle Bartsch. Then Kansas City cut him last September, making him a free agent.

On Monday, Fuentes became the starting center fielder for the Diamondbacks, who had signed him to a minorleague deal in December.

“I’m very excited. I’m very happy to be here,” Fuentes said before making his Arizona debut against the Mets at Chase Field. “A lot of traveling, a lot of packing, a lot of emotions. I called my Dad and he was really excited about it.”

Fuentes, 26, entered the night with 18 career hits and had played in only 36 career major-league games. But he’ll get the first crack, regardless, of trying to replace the injured A.J. Pollock in center and at the top of Arizona’s batting order.

Pollock went on the disabled list with a Grade 1 right groin strain, and the Diamondbacks said he won’t play again until he is 100 percent healthy. That could mean an extended stay on DL for a player who’s dealt with multiple groin problems and other injury issues.

Fuentes, meanwhile, said his career in the big leagues was stunted because of nervous energy and pressures brought about by all the heavy expectations placed upon him as a 19-year-old.

“It affected me in Kansas City and San Diego before and I’ve worked on it and I’m pretty happy about my work and just trying to do my job,” he said. “I guess every player in their first two years get nervous around a lot of people, even the best of the best in baseball.”

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo knew Fuentes during their time together in the Red Sox organization and he made it a point Monday to say players develop and mature at different rates.

“You need to embrace what you can handle and what you can do and that takes time to understand,” Lovullo said. “It’s not a perfect science. There’s very few Bryce Harpers and Derek Jeters in today’s game.”

Fuentes, a left-handed batter, was hitting .376 in 36 games for Triple-A Reno when he was promoted. He collected eight doubles, three triples, eight walks, nine stolen bases and 13 RBIs for the Aces and was hitting .516 against lefties.

Peralta OK

After exiting Sunday’s game against the Pirates because of a tight right glute, right fielder David Peralta wasn’t in the starting lineup on Monday. But he said he was feeling better and was able to pinch hit and play, if necessary.

“For me it’s good. It’s a big relief because you see what happened with A.J. and everything and I was kind of worried about that,” Peralta said. “But I know at the first moment it wasn’t going to be that bad because I didn’t feel that really bad that moment when I was hitting. But the good news is, I’m available to play and it’s nothing bad, so I’m ready to go help the team.”

Chris Owings started in right for Peralta.

Healing up

Catcher Chris Iannetta, on the disabled list after getting struck in the face by a fastball Friday, said he was lucky. He suffered from fractures to his teeth and nose as well as a split-open upper lip.

Fixing his teeth won’t require invasive repair, he said. He’ll get veneer caps. As for the fractures in his nose, he said there’s really one small one and it’s likely the result of getting hit in the face by a pitch when he was 13.

“When they told me this time it may never heal, that might have been from the previous injury,” Iannetta said. “He was pressing on it and I didn’t feel anything. I’m guessing it was old because I think if it was fractured, I’d feel it.”