D-backs’ Gibson: Hudson injury news felt like a ‘kick in the stomach’

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced Friday that pitcher Daniel Hudson, who had left a rehab start with Double-A Mobile Tuesday complaining of stiffness in his elbow, suffered a re-tear of the UCL in his right elbow.

Hudson had been working his way back, and before his lone start in Double-A, had pitched in some extended spring training games. In late May, after an outing where he threw 74 pitches — including 54 strikes — while allowing four runs on seven hits, he tweeted out that his arm “felt great.”

On Friday, D-backs’ manager Kirk Gibson reacted to the news of Hudson’s setback.

“Felt like I got kicked in the stomach,” Gibson said. “He was very hungry for it, it’s been a long journey for him. I’m sure he was highly disappointed. I felt really bad for him, we all do, even beyond what it means for the team.

“There’s interesting turns in everybody’s journey and I think he’ll be up to it. I’m not sure where he’s at with it, where his decision process is but we’ll all certainly support him, whatever he decides to do.”

According to the club, the staff is currently exploring all medical options for the 26-year-old hurler.

“I think he can probably try and get it fixed again,” Gibson explained. “We know what the diagnosis is and I think it’s between Huddy and the medical people to decide what course he takes from here and anything we can do to assist him to make a good decision, we’ll certainly give him that support.”

Some people may question the rehab process and time frame the right-hander has followed the past year, but Gibson said he wouldn’t change the way they did things.

“With elbow surgeries, they do it in weeks,” Gibson said. “He’s at 12 months right now. We were just getting him built up. I’m not going to sit here and talk about why it could happen or why it did or why it shouldn’t have happened. Nobody really knows that. Everything was done properly by all parties and certainly he did his job and it just didn’t work out.”

Hudson last pitched in a Major League game on June 26, 2012, which he left due to elbow discomfort. It was learned that he had torn the elbow ligament, and he underwent Tommy John surgery shortly thereafter.

“He’s got a lot on his mind, I’m sure. And again, we’ll be there for him in anything we can do to help him make a decision on how he wants to proceed. We’ll certainly support him in any way that we can,” Gibson said. “He’s an extremely driven guy and he likes to do what he does. I’m hoping that he decides to stick it out, resolve it and get back and play the game. It’s a long time coming, but he’s just gotta overcome some obstacles.”

Hudson was not at the ballpark on Friday before the Diamondbacks’ game against the Giants at Chase Field. No word when a decision will be made regarding his future.

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