Kevin Ginkel Has Fluid Buildup and Inflammation in Elbow

The star reliever is day-to-day with an undefined timeline to resume pitching

Yesterday we reported that Arizona Diamondbacks standout reliever Kevin Ginkel was dealing with elbow soreness. It first surfaced a week ago, and after imaging turned up clean according to Torey Lovullo they decided to "slow play" his progression through spring training. 

Speaking with Ginkel today, he said right now it's a precautionary slow down to keep things from building up on him more than they are right now. "I've just got some fluid and inflammation I'm dealing with. I've been taking anti-inflammatories trying to flush it out. I think we'll be good, I just want to take my time with this."  Ginkel's timeline is day-to-day. 

Back in 2021, the hard throwing right-hander had a similar bout with inflammation that put him on the minor league injured list. "I threw in a few games that year where I pitched multiple times and I just felt like there was some buildup here in the elbow, so I took some anti inflammatories and shut it down. But I really don't think it's anything too concerning. It's early in camp, we'll try to flush it out and get ready to go for the season."

It's notable that Ginkel missed the entire second half of 2021 due to elbow inflammation. After struggling through 32 games with a 6.35 ERA through June 19th that year, he was demoted to Triple-A. After pitching in just one game, he went on the 10 day injured list and was eventually put on the 60-day injured in mid September to finish out the season. 

Ginkel made it back to the majors for the second half of 2022 and pitched well, posting a 3.38 ERA in 30 games. Then in 2023 he emerged as one of the top right-handed relievers in the game, solidifying himself as the team's primary set up man and most effective late inning reliever.  In 60 games, 65.1 innings pitched he posted a stellar 2.48 ERA while striking out 70 batters. Then, in the postseason, he was lights out, pitching 11.2 scoreless innings while striking out 15.

While everyone from Mike Hazen to Torey Lovullo to Ginkel seem very optimistic this will be a short term problem, any prolonged absence or lack of effectiveness due to injury would be a big blow to the D-backs bullpen plans.