Diamondbacks Give Encouraging Pavin Smith Injury Update

Arizona Diamondbacks DH and first baseman Pavin Smith was scratched for Thursday night's opening day matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers due to left elbow soreness. Smith underwent an MRI on Friday.

According to manager Torey Lovullo, speaking to Arizona Sports 98.7's Burns and Gambo show, there was no significant update as a result of the imaging, but there was one particularly important detail: there was no structural damage.

Update: Smith has returned to the Diamondbacks' lineup against the Dodgers Friday night.

"What I know right now is it's left elbow inflammation," Lovullo said. "That's what we found in there. There was no tears, nothing wrong that's going to indicate a long-term shutdown."

According to Nick Piecoro of AZCentral, Lovullo told reporters in L.A. pregame that Smith may be available off the bench on Friday — a good sign that an IL stint will be avoided. It will depend on how Smith feels after his BP session.

Diamondbacks' Pavin Smith dealing with left elbow inflammation

Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Pavin Smith (26) during spring training workouts at Salt River Fields on Feb. 16, 2026, in Scottsdale. | Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Left elbow inflammation is not the type of diagnosis that lays out a specific course of action, but it is encouraging to not find any serious issue. Lovullo said the team is still "trying to figure out what the next steps are."

"If he can grind through it for the next couple of days, take a little Advil, or if it's going to be a 10-day shutdown and put him on the IL. That's what we're getting to right now," Lovullo said.

"He's in there getting some treatment. He's going to try and test it today, and then we'll make that decision moving forward. Really unlucky break for him."

Smith had been dealing with the same issue earlier in spring training, alongside catcher Gabriel Moreno. At the time, Smith did not require any imaging, and was sent back out after minimal downtime.

"He had the same thing towards the end of spring training. We pulled him off the field for about four or five days. We thought he'd recuperated. I watched him go off on his BP," the manager said.

"We had worked out on the off day here in LA, and he went crazy during his BP, but did a little too much and re-aggravated it. That's where we're at right now."

Smith's DH slot was taken by Tim Tawa on Thursday, who went 1-for-3. The bigger issue, however, is the fact that Arizona has no left-handed DH option remaining, and no lefty depth in Triple-A.

Even though it appears Smith won't be destined for surgery or a lengthy IL stint, Arizona is going to have to find a way to make up for the lack of a left-handed DH, with Adrian Del Castillo still working on returning from a calf strain.