Patrick Corbin To Return From Tommy John Surgery
By Blake Benard
The road back from Tommy John Surgery is long and grueling, full of ups and downs. Well, for the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin all the work and wait is finally over. The Dbacks announced earlier today that Corbin will return to the Dbacks starting rotation on Saturday to make his first scheduled start since September 27, 2013.
Sept. 17, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA: Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin throws in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
That was back in a season where he excelled join 14-8 with a 3.41 ERA and was named to the National League All-Star game. For a majority of the season he was even a NL CY Young candidate before struggling at the end of the year.
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Expectations were high for the young lefty coming into the 2014 season, but before he even got through Spring Training, he was lost for the season due to Tommy John Surgery. At the time he joined a slew of Dback pitchers who had suffered the same fate: Daniel Hudson, Matt Reynolds, David Hernandez, and Bronson Arroyo.
According to Craig Grialou of Arizona Sports, Chip Hale said the Diamondbacks won’t let Corbin throw over 90 pitchers tomorrow and they will do their best to keep him under 100 pitches per start until the end of the year.
Additionally, the Dbacks will have to make a corresponding roster move to make room for Corbin before their game on Friday. They have several options here but most likely they could either send down infielder Danny Dorn or maybe relief pitcher Matt Stites who threw a scoreless inning of relief in yesterdays 8-1 win over the Rockies.
Undeniably this is a huge boost for the Dbacks. All year, they have been struggling to get above .500 and Corbin could be their best best to do just that. And if they do get above .500, it will be intriguing to see if the Dbacks decide to be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline.
The Diamondbacks are only 6.5 games back of the NL West leading Dodgers and no one is pulling away with the division. Since their trads of Montero, Cahill, and Trumbo, CBO Tony La Russa and GM Dave Stewart have created tons of salary space and made room to land a big acquisition if they wanted to. With the right moves the Dbacks very well could insert themselves into the division and wildcard race.
Never loose hope. There’s a lot of baseball yet to be played.