Athletics Put A.J. Puk on Injured List After Reccurance of Shoulder Discomfort

Rookie lefty starter A.J. Puk felt discomfort in his left shoulder his last time out and on Monday the A's put him on the injured list and sent him to see an orthopedic specialist. It seems to be the same issue that stopped Puk for a time early in the spring. Daniel Mengden will start in Puk's place.

Oakland rookie left-handed starter A.J. Puk will begin the season on the disabled list after coming down with shoulder discomfort his last time throwing.

Puk flew to Southern California to be checked out by orthopedic specialist Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Until they A’s hear back from ElAtrrache, they won’t know just how serious the problem is.

When Puk had the same problem in Spring Training 1, he came back after a couple of weeks and was building his arm strength up by the time Major League Baseball was shut down by the COVID-19 coronavirus on March 12. The expectation was that he’d have to start the season working out of the bullpen, but during the three months baseball was shut down, he felt he’d had a full recovery.

“I was able to clean up some of my mechanics,” Puk said 10 days ago of the way he was able to use the three months of down time to his advantage. “It was just a long grind coming back from Tommy John and then ramping it back up.”

Puk would have his throwing sessions put on video and would ship them to the A’s training staff for their advice, and with their advice he said “everything’s kind of coming together right now.”

That ended earlier this week when he had to be lifted in the middle of his third inning.

“He’s got a shoulder strain (similar to) what we saw in spring training,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s on the DL, and there’s no timetable for his return at this point.”

Melvin said that Daniel Mengden, himself coming back from injury, will take the mound in place of Puk.

The injury means that two of the five men the A’s had hoped would anchor their starting rotation, won’t be in the rotation to start the season. Jesus Luzardo, who had his return slowed by a bout with the coronavirus, will begin the season pitching out of the bullpen, although he could be in the rotation before too long.

“It’s frustrating for us, it’s frustrating for him,” Melvin said. “You know he went though this in the spring. And we thought this period of time off would benefit him. It did, until a point. And the other day he felt it again to the point where we cut off his third inning. And that’s the position we’re in now.”

Melvin also said that outfielder Ramon Laureano was being held out of Monday’s game with what Melvin called “a little bit of a tight calf.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Inside the Athletics on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.