Diamondbacks Assistant GM Mike Fitzgerald Speaks On A.J. Puk's Injury

Arizona's Assistant GM confirmed several reports involving the left-hander's health status

Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander A.J. Puk (33) pitches against the Chicago Cubs at Chase Field in Phoenix on Sunday, March 30, 2025. / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks haver suffered some tough losses in the bullpen early on in 2025. After starting the year without Kevin Ginkel and Kendall Graveman, who each looked to be high-leverage options for the club, several more setbacks began to pop up.

It was announced on April 19 that back-end reliever and key southpaw A.J. Puk would be placed on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation. In combination with Justin Martinez's shoulder fatigue, and the aforementioned injuries to other leverage pieces, this left Arizona's bullpen quite thin.

During his postgame interviews on Tuesday, manager Torey Lovullo gave some good news while speaking to reporters. A.J. Puk will not require surgery for his condition. His injury was diagnosed as a "flexor strain" in his left elbow, according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. While certainly not great, it's far from the worst case scenario.

More on the initial reports: A.J. Puk's Elbow Injury Will Not Require Surgery

On Wednsday afternoon Diamondbacks Assistant GM Mike Fitzgerald joined the Wolf and Luke show on Arizona Sports' radio broadcast. There he elaborated more on Puk's situation and about the process behind the diagnostics.

"We try to be as diligent as we can in this space," said Fitzgerald. "I don't think anybody has perfectly right answers. We are trying to cross source as much information from respected doctors across the nation."

After the initial move of placing Puk on the injured list, there was a phase in which reports surfaced that the left-hander (as well as the team) was seeking multiple opinions on his diagnosis. This is a common occurrence with player injuries, particularly those which may require long stints on the injured list.

Here, however, it seems like all parties who were asked came to a similar common opinion.
Fitzgerald continued, "Fortunately, we got a consensus across the different people who were asked to take a look at this, that this will not require surgery."

"Rest and recovery should be decent enough to put him in a spot where hopefully, a few weeks from now, we can ramp up that progression. It was nice to see a consensus across all the doctors who took a look at the imaging that this can be managed with some rest and recovery," he concluded.

Reinforcements for the bullpen are coming. Kevin Ginkel has re-joined the club, and Graveman may not be far behind. The emergences of Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks have also added a boost to the relief corp, and with Justin Martinez confirming that he feels ready to go again, things may be looking up.

When it comes to Puk, his loss is still difficult for the team. Without multiple effective left-handers, it will certainly be more challenging for Lovullo to plan ideal matchups late in games. After being acquired at the deadline by the D-backs and breaking out, the southpaw had played a monumental role in closing out games.

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