Gabriel Moreno Nearing Return from Shoulder Injury

Gabriel Moreno went on the 10 day injured list with a sore left shoulder on July 23rd. He had injured it a couple weeks before in the batting cages. After trying to play through it he needed to be shut down for rest and treatment however.

Yesterday the 23 year old catcher was seen in the clubhouse with a bat in hand and batting gloves on his way to the batting cages. He began swinging over a week ago and he said yesterday he was feeling good, with no pain or discomfort at all. He was excited to get back on a field today at Salt River Fields for an Arizona Complex League game. Torey Lovullo said that Moreno would catch five innings to begin rebuilding his strength and stamina.

Moreno said that after ACL game he thought he would be off to Triple-A Reno for a rehab assignment and then potentially return to the team as early next week in Colorado where the team will play three games against the Rockies starting Monday August 14th.

The team has sorely missed Moreno both behind and at the plate. He's hiting .270/.316/.360 for the year with 11 doubles, three homers and 28 RBI in 244 PA. While he hasn't taken many walks or been hitting with a lot of power, his contact ability and all fields approach was something that was helping balance the lineup. He was heating up again in the two weeks prior to going on he injured list, going 11 for 30, .367 with two doubles and a homer in 12 games from June 27th July 23.

More importantly, his defense behind he plate already ranks among the best in the league. His +9 defensive runs saved as calculated by Sports Info Solutions and published at Baseball Reference ranks 5th best in all of MLB despite the missed time. He's caught 17 of 36 base stealers, and his 47% CS rate is only one percentage point off the league lead. His Catcher ERA of 4.22 is also significantly lower than Carson Kelly (5.01) and Jose Herrera (5.26)

Acquired in an off season trade with the Toronto Blue Jays along with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. for Daulton Varsho, Moreno is set up to be the primary catcher for the Diamondbacks for the next 5 years after this one as he will not be a free agent until 2029.