Drey Jameson to Return to Diamondbacks Starting Rotation

Jameson will assume the rotation spot vacated by Zach Davies' injury.

Zach Davies sustained a left oblique strain in yesterday's win over the Dodgers and was placed on the 15-day injured list today, leaving a hole in the starting rotation. The D-backs had three potential options to fill that spot, between stretching out Drey Jameson or calling up either left-hander Tommy Henry or right-hander Brandon Pfaadt from Triple-A Reno. In a pregame media session, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo announced that Jameson will be returning to the rotation. 

"It will be a great opportunity for him to get back to where I think he's most comfortable, most happy" said Lovullo. "He made a statement that he didn't give a darn about where he was pitching, that he just wanted to win baseball games. That played out for us, it's going to fall into a different space right now". Lovullo did not commit to a specific date for when Jameson is scheduled to make his next start.

After making the Opening Day roster as a reliever, Jameson has pitched in three games this season with two wins and a save. While he was helping the team win games, his outings were beginning to shorten. "We felt like the window was closing upon us. There is no 'defined time' for us to say on Day X it's gone, it's passed us by" said Lovullo. "I felt like with the 60, then 30, then something shorter that if we didn't stretch him out real soon that window was going to close up real soon". Lovullo reiterated in yesterday's pregame media session that the team viewed him as a starter in the long term. 

Moving Jameson to the rotation obviously leaves a big hole in the bullpen, as the team no longer had a guy who could get more than six outs. To fill that hole, the team added right-hander Peter Solomon to the bullpen to assume the long man role. Lovullo said that Solomon showed "versatility, command the baseball, good strike-to-ball breaking ball" this spring. He was a guy who pitching coach Brent Strom was familiar with in his time with the Houston Astros, leading to the D-backs taking him in the second round of the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft last December.

"I think he can give you some length, he can start. There's value with those guys, Caleb Smith filled that role with us last year. Caleb was a guy who we could use two innings today, take a day off, give us two more, take two or three days off, give us three. I think Solomon fits into that category."