Rattlesnakes put Justin Martinez on 15-day IL and transfer AJ PUK to 60-day IL
D-backs announced Thursday that they have Justin Martinez On the list of injuries caused by inflammation in the right shoulder. left handed Jose CastilloThe contract selected from Triple-A Reno has given his active roster a spot. Compatriots Nanzha aj puk Moving from 15-day IL to 60-day IL created a roster of 40 people for Castillo.
Martinez will have an MRI this morning after his pace has dropped over the past week. The average triple digits on his power sinker became his recent appearance of 93.5 mph. Although the right-hander claims he feels 100% healthy, he will head to the injury list under the name of the injury that still exists. D-Backs will certainly provide more information about his identity and potential timeline.
This partially injury-related move was a brutal blow for the D-BACKS team, who spent most of the offseason searching for established bullpen arms but ended up making the usual smaller moves. Martinez and Puk are the team’s two best reliefists and enter the year as favorites to work with savings and high leverage holdings. They are both on the shelf and although Puk's flexor strain does not require surgery, today's 60-day IL will only further emphasize the fact that Arizona will have no him for quite some time.
Martinez, 23, averaged 100.2 miles per hour on his 2024 sinking sheet, and his course averaged 100 mph in his first eight games of the year. Over the next three outings, it dropped in the 97-99 mph range, but it doesn't necessarily cause a full alarm. Last night's drop to 93.5 mph, and on an outing he faced three batsmen, allowing two walks and a home run, is another story altogether.
This has become an ominous situation for fans of D-Backs and has become more complicated by Puk's absence. Martinez burst with a 2.48 ERA, 29.5% strikeout rate, 11.7% walking rate, 58.9% ground ball rate, 8 saves and 7 hit rate, last year 72 2/3 innings. He obviously had some command issues, but the elite speed plus the combined strikeout and ground ball rate helps to alleviate the swelling walking rate.
D-backs are clearly bullish on Martinez's future, signing for five years in spring training, with a $18mm extension. The contract includes two club options for the 2030-31 season, which will be Martinez's first two free agents. At the time, there was little reason to be afraid of injury (beyond the average loss rate of pitchers in today’s games). Now, the prospect is even more hazy.
If Puk is healthy, the Rattlesnake will surely insert him into a closer role and keep moving forward Kevin Ginkel Set. However, Puk hit the injured roster with elbow inflammation after the start of eight innings of his 2025 season, and the subsequent MRI revealed a flexor strain that required significant shutdown time.
With both Martinez and Puk on the shelves, D-Backs may convert shutdown responsibilities into a combination of Ginkel and Ginkel Shelby Millerhe returned to Arizona on a minor league contract during the offseason and performed well after winning his job this spring. Ginkel only came back from his own shoulder inflammation, and in the first month of the season he wasn't far from him. Starting from 2022-24, he invested 164 2/3 innings with a 2.95 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 7.9% walking rate. Miller has already shot 12 2/3 of the no-point division when he returns to Phoenix, playing 31.9% with an 8.5% walk rate.
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