NL WEST
“I was actually being pretty safe the whole time. It was just a freak deal.” Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner on the dirt-bike accident that injured his pitching shoulder
Arizona Diamondbacks
After getting off to a healthier start than their NL West rivals, the Diamondbacks were faced with an injury to right-hander Shelby Miller.
Forearm tightness forced Miller from his start Sunday, and an MRI on Monday revealed concerns about his elbow. He was scheduled to get a second opinion.
Miller, coming off a dismal 2016, was an improved performer who was throwing 97 mph into the seventh inning one outing before the injury. He hit 99 mph on other recent pitches.
On the same day Miller was pulled, the franchise’s top pitching prospect, lefty Anthony Ban
da, struck out 11 in 52⁄ innings 3 for Class AAA Reno.
Another option for Miller’s spot could be reliever Archie Brad
ley, a starter until this season. Through 111⁄ innings of relief, he 3 has posted a 1-0 record and 0.79 ERA, but that would suggest he’s better off in the bullpen. uAt .254 through 19 games,
Paul Goldschmidt’s average was about 50 points down, but there were signs of a breakout. In his favor, David Peralta was commanding newfound respect with a hot streak that included a fourdouble game April 22. Peralta normally hits No. 2, a spot ahead of Goldschmidt. Colorado Rockies If Kyle Freeland can keep this up — or is it down? — the Rockies stand to reap a timely windfall.
Freeland is coaxing numerous ground balls. While that’s generally a good trend for a pitcher, it bodes well at Coors Field, especially when Nolan Arenado is playing third base.
The rookie, showing good sink on his fastball, induced 12 groundouts across seven scoreless innings Sunday to help the Rockies complete a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants.
“When you are throwing the ball in the low 90s, with movement, you are going to get a lot of grounders. Moving forward, that should be a big part of Kyle’s game — the ground ball,” manager Bud
Black said. Freeland is refining his change- up, but he is throwing it enough — about 10% of his pitches — to complement his sinker and cutter. A Denver native, Freeland has bolstered a rotation that lost Chad Bettis (testicular cancer) and Jon Gray (foot) in recent weeks.
Freeland, who will turn 24 in May, worked 162 innings in the minors last year, a huge jump from the previous two seasons.
uRegarding two Class AAA pitchers, Black hinted that Ger
man Marquez was closer to helping the Rockies than Jeff
Hoffman. He praised Marquez’s strikeout rate and improved curveball and noted Hoffman was implementing delivery tweaks from spring training. Los Angeles Dodgers When Kenta Maeda returns to the mound, probably this week against the Giants, the hope is that he’ll apply some recent adjustments.
The tweaks came after Maeda, the only Dodgers pitcher to not miss a start last season, gave up seven home runs — tied for the most in the majors through Sunday — in his first four starts this season. He hasn’t thrown a pitch in the sixth inning this year.
“We’re definitely going to hang with him,” manager Dave Rob
erts said. “But we’re going to talk through some things and see what’s best for Kenta.”
In spring training, scouts said Maeda, 29, looked stronger physically than he did last year, his first with the Dodgers. Roberts suggested he’s muscling up on his fastball, costing him accuracy and movement.
“Kenta is a guy who has great feel and has the ability to locate the baseball,” the manager said. “In his starts this year, he hasn’t located that fastball.”
His fastball velocity, at 91.4 mph, is up 1.4 mph from last year, per FanGraphs. But the right-hander also is allowing flyballs at a much higher rate than he did in 2016. uAlong with left-handed starter Julio Urias, lefty reliever Grant Dayton is expected to join the team this week. Both were 2016 standouts, and Dayton al-
lowed no runs in 61⁄ innings this 3 season before a strained rib cage sidelined him.
uThe Dodgers’ injury problems continued Monday when center fielder Joc Pederson was placed on the disabled list because of a strained groin. He was injured running out a groundball. San Diego Padres
The Padres project to have a good developmental season, team ownership’s stated goal for 2017.
Their .400 win rate through 20 games equated to a 65-97 record. So general manager A.J.
Preller is on track to gain a topfive draft pick in 2018, to go with the No. 3 selection this June for posting a 68-94 record last year.
Amid the on-field struggles, several of the team’s younger regulars are making progress. In his first season as the full-time starter, catcher Austin Hedges is adding power hitting to his topflight work as a defender. Rookie outfielders Manuel Margot and
Hunter Renfroe are holding their own by defending well and hammering mistake pitches.
Cory Spangenberg could rejoin the youth movement in San Diego. Sidelined most of last season by a pulled thigh muscle, the speedy third baseman-second baseman was hitting .371 through Sunday at Class AAA El Paso.
uHaving committed about $40 million (including overage fees) to Cuban prospects over the last several months, the Padres are a player for a Cuban outfielder, Luis Robert, who recently was declared a free agent. San Francisco Giants
It’s a question that leaders of every baseball franchise must bear in mind. Are we contending or rebuilding? Amid an April pummeling like few others in franchise history, Giants leaders might want to revisit the plan. The team lost its ace, Madison
Bumgarner, to a dirt-bike accident that injured his pitching shoulder last week.
He’s not due back for at least six weeks, and the team’s 6-13 start was the Giants’ worst in 34 years. The farm system is in need of impact talent. Top Giants baseball executive
Brian Sabean told USA TODAY Sports Weekly last summer that the team owes it to Giants fans to try to contend every year.
A bad won-lost record would increase the team’s draft capital. Giants scouts have shown themselves adept, landing Buster
Posey, Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum with three of the four top-10 draft picks the franchise had in the last 11 years. uChristian Arroyo, the franchise’s top prospect, was promoted sooner than planned as a result of the team’s poor start. The 21-year-old third baseman hit .446 through 16 Class AAA games and was in the lineup Monday, the same day he was called up.