Shoulder soreness in 2018 was no big deal for D-backs’ Zack Greinke

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke does not want to make a big deal of some shoulder soreness that has bothered him on-and-off the past three seasons.

He, in fact, doesn’t want it to be a deal at all.

Greinke told Forbes the shoulder bothered him through the start of last season and over the course of treatment and other things, the situation resolved itself.

When the media followed up on Friday, Greinke reassured that this is a common thing.

“Everyone deals with stuff,” the 35-year-old said.

“It’s just a fact that something bothers me usually every outing (but) that also happens to almost every pitcher in baseball and every hitter so that’s why guys don’t talk about it probably because it’s pointless to talk about which will end up be what’s happening now.”

Greinke specifically noted the context of that is important and he didn’t notice it bother his form pitching at the beginning of last season. To no surprise, he was able to cite the specific mistakes he made in those poor outings and how they were more related to not making smart decisions as opposed to his shoulder being the issue. That was even down to the opponent, the batter, the type of pitch he threw at the wrong situation and the result of that mistake.

“Shoulder felt kinda bad the last three (years) — there’s always something,” he said. “Elbow bothered me for five years then the shoulder kinda bothered me for the last three but it’s just stuff you deal with.”

Greinke threw roughly 35-40 pitches on Friday, a go-through he called “getting loose.”

With spring play beginning on Saturday, he’s expected to go back into a regular five-day schedule.

Greinke is in year number four of his massive $206.5 million contract and is set to make at least $31.5 million each of the next three seasons.

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