Tony La Russa: There’s ‘no justice’ in Archie Bradley’s struggles

For the first three starts of his career, Archie Bradley looked like an ace in the making.

Then, in the fourth, he was hit in the head by a line drive, the result of which landed him on the disabled list for 15 days.

Upon his return to the mound, Bradley made four starts for the D-backs, failing to get past the fifth inning in any of them while allowing a total of 19 runs in 15.2 innings.

The 22-year-old’s struggles have left him with a 2-3 record and a 5.80 ERA, and Thursday, the team placed the right-hander on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder tendinitis.

“Just concerned because he’s an important piece of what we’re putting together, so you want to do the smart thing and be patient,” D-backs chief baseball officer Tony La Russa told Bickley and Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Friday.

La Russa lamented the fact that in baseball, sometimes there is a lack of justice for certain players. He cited Bradley, who earned a spot in the starting rotation and was pitching well only to see his season sidetracked with the line drive, as an injustice. Then there is also catcher Tuffy Gosewisch, who tore his ACL and has been lost for the season, his first as a full-time starter.

“So there’s really no justice or explanation why Archie took the ball to the face and had to get out of that groove, but you deal with realities and the reality with Archie is we’re going to be real sure,” La Russa said. “He felt a little — it was fatigue — sometimes you’re off, even though you’re working out, when you come back you reach for a little extra and the extra’s not there.

“We’re going to make sure he’s real healthy and he’s got all his timing back in his delivery before we send him out there again at the major league level.”