Zack Greinke ‘ready’ to begin his first season with D-backs

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. –- For the second time in as many starts, Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Zack Greinke faced minor-league hitters, shunning the major-league talent only a few yards away.

Not wanting Greinke to oppose Colorado less than a week before his Opening Day assignment against the Rockies, the D-backs chose to throw their ace in an intrasquad game on the back fields at Salt River Fields on Tuesday.

Greinke allowed one run on six hits with four strikeouts in 3.1 innings. He did not walk a batter.

Only one of the hits went for extra bases and none were hit extremely hard with the exception of a third-inning double laced to the opposite field.

“Pretty good,” Greinke said. “Threw a lot of strikes. Some really good off-speed pitches; some good fastballs. It was pretty good all the way around.”

Two of the six hits Greinke surrendered belonged to center fielder A.J. Pollock, who continues to work his way back from a sore right elbow that has kept him out of Cactus League games since March 8.

The D-backs remain optimistic Pollock won’t have to begin the season on the disabled list.

“He’s feeling good,” manager Chip Hale said. “He should be OK. My gut tells me he’s going to be ready for Opening Day, but he has to feel like he has enough at-bats under his belt that he can compete at the highest level.”

Pollock finished 3-for-5 with a run scored.

As far as Greinke, he got up and down four times, throwing roughly 60 pitches.

The plan, according to Hale, was to “peel back” Greinke in his final spring tune-up.

“He’s ready,” Hale said.

Added Greinke, “Ready as I will be, I guess.”

More importantly, Greinke said “health-wise, I feel great” and when asked about how he feels about his pitching repertoire, he responded, “pretty good. I don’t know if it would be the best, but stuff-wise feels pretty good.”

On paper, Greinke has been better than good, going 1-0 with a 1.88 ERA covering 14.1 innings in four Cactus League starts.

“I think spring training stats are worthless,” he said.

The next time Greinke takes the mound will be to open the 2016 season on April 4. It will his first Opening Day start since 2010 and just the second of his career.

“I’m looking forward to it. I want to start off on a good note,” he said, adding about the Opening Day festivities, “the only thing, I guess, I like about it is all the announcing players you don’t have to deal with when you’re pitching; and if you’re not, you have to go get introduced and all this nonsense.”

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