It was not an easy road back to the Major Leagues for Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Andrew Saalfrank. Returning in early July from a one-year MLB suspension for gambling, the young pitcher managed to put all that behind him to forge a successful season. <\/p>\n
Un-scored-upon in his first seven outings starting on July 12, he went on to post a stellar 1.24 ERA in 29 innings pitched, carving out a leverage role in a decimated D-backs bullpen. <\/p>\n
There were warning signs, however. His sinker velocity was 92.5 MPH when he first arrived on the scene in September of 2023. But upon returning last year, he was sitting 88-89 MPH. At the time he said he felt like it was due having a shorter ramp-up period due to the suspension and that the velocity would come back up. It never did. <\/p>\n
It turns out the reason behind that was a shoulder injury. We learned the other day, as reported by Alex D’Agostino<\/a>, that Saalfrank will miss the entire 2026 season due to shoulder surgery. General Manager Mike Hazen shed light on the nature of the injury during the first day of D-backs spring training. <\/p>\n Mike Hazen Discusses Andrew Saalfrank Injury<\/p>\n Hazen confirmed that the injury to his shoulder began in the 2025 season, but Saalfrank pitched through it.<\/p>\n “I don’t think where he was at physically it was going to last successfully. He was having some shoulder soreness. He dealt with a little bit of that at the end of the year last year, but pitched through it.<\/p>\n After starting his throwing program it soon became apparent that he was not going to make it through a full season. <\/p>\n “I think the thought that he was going to get through another 162 days was probably too much, and that’s why we went in this direction,” Hazen said.<\/p>\n