Arizona Diamondbacks president Hall: Archie Bradley had to get over mental hurdle

One of the biggest holes on the Arizona Diamondbacks roster has been the lack of consistency among their starting pitching.

The team’s Opening Day starter is in the bullpen while the staff holds a 4.66 ERA, which ranks 26th in MLB.

While the D-backs search for somebody to step up as the staff ace, they also wait patiently for the return of Archie Bradley.

Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall believes Bradley is not far away from returning to health.

“It is good, that’s the mental hurdle he had to get over,” Hall told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Friday morning when asked about Bradley’s shoulder. “We thought he was OK and encouraged him to get that second opinion, so it was good we had confirmation that he was OK.”

Bradley went to Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion on his right shoulder on July 2nd.

Of course that is not the only ailment that was bothering Bradley.

The right-hander posted a 1.45 ERA as the team won all three of his starts before he was struck in the face by a line drive off the bat of Colorado Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez.

That moment derailed his season, as he was forced onto the disabled list and struggled when he returned, giving up at least four runs in no more than five innings pitched in any of his four starts.

Hall believes that being hit in the face had a role in Bradley’s struggles after the injury.

“I think now we will see how mental it was and taking a ball off your face is not easy,” Hall said. “As strong as a kid he is, I think we are all human and you are going to have anxiousness, or anxiety.

“He will be fine and we will build him back up and see him up here quickly because he really was the one impact pitcher we had to start the season. We were so excited and that injury was devastating. We can get him back on track, we have a terrific training staff and coaches and we will see him back.”

Hall did not give a timetable of when Bradley could return to the team.