Diamondbacks will activate pitcher Ryne Nelson, DFA reliever Derek Law

The Arizona Diamondbacks will activate pitcher Ryne Nelson off the 60-day IL and designated pitcher Derek Law for assignment Wednesday, according to Arizona Sports‘ John Gambadoro.

Nelson suffered a flexor strain and UCL sprain in his throwing elbow and last pitched for Arizona on June 15, as he went on the injured list.

Nelson is going to pitch out of the bullpen for the Diamondbacks. Manager Torey Lovullo said Nelson’s role will be similar to Archie Bradley’s in 2017 and 2018 when he was able to give Arizona multiple innings of relief.

Nelson threw 34 pitches across 1.2 innings in his last rehab appearance on Saturday.

“I think Nelly throwing out of the bullpen has a chance to be as good as any of our relievers,” Lovullo told reporters Tuesday.

“And now you’re going to ask him to maybe go more than one inning. It’s invaluable. The recovery will be the key here, giving him the chance to rest and get back to full strength. We know there’s a lot of octane in that arm. So he talked about, in my conversation today, he talked about his secondary stuff. He was really pleased with how his slider was coming out.” 

Nelson has been both a starter and reliever for the Diamondbacks the past three seasons but up to his injury this year was exclusively used as a starter this campaign.

He made 15 starts (3-5) posting a 4.97 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 83.1 innings pitched.

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