D-backs to shut down Luke Weaver, Zac Gallen for 2019
Sep 25, 2019, 12:34 PM | Updated: 1:15 pm
Luke Weaver (left). (AP Photo/Matt York). Zac Gallen (right). (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo announced Wednesday that the team will shut down starting pitchers Luke Weaver and Zac Gallen for the rest of 2019.
Only four games remain in the team’s regular season and they have already been eliminated from the postseason. Lovullo made it clear that both pitchers are healthy despite them being shut down.
Gallen, 24, is in his first major league season. He threw exactly 80 innings this season in the major leagues in addition to 91.1 in Triple-A for Miami’s farm team (he came to the D-backs in a trade deadline deal this summer). For Gallen, 171.1 innings is a professional career-high.
“We had crossed the threshold several weeks ago with our comfort level [for innings pitched],” Lovullo said. “But we were in the race. He was throwing the ball as good as he ever had. He was feeling very good. So we were going to press on, but pay close attention to that.”
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Weaver, meanwhile, spent much of the season on the injured list with muscular injuries in his pitching arm. On Saturday, he pitched for the first time since May 26 and went just two innings, allowing no hits or walks and striking out one on only 19 pitches.
“This is a healthy shutdown,” Lovullo said. “Luke has worked extremely hard to get himself back to this point right now, and he had thrown a couple games — one in [Single-A] Visalia and one here. Checked a lot of boxes. And this was a collective decision. We got information from Luke and we just decided we wanted him to begin his rest protocol as soon as possible.”
Gallen finishes the year with a 2.81 ERA.
Weaver had a 2.94 ERA over 12 starts in his first season with Arizona after coming over from St. Louis in the Paul Goldschmidt trade.
WHAT ABOUT WALKER?
Starting pitcher Taijuan Walker, who hasn’t pitched since April of 2018 due to Tommy John surgery, will throw a bullpen session on Thursday. They’ll see how he feels after that, but the idea is try to get him in a game before season’s end.
