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Top prospect and right-hander Archie Bradley has been placed on the minor league 7-day DL with a mild flexor strain in his elbow, the Diamondbacks announced. He will rest for two weeks before starting a throwing program.
Bradley, 21, was ranked as the second best pitching prospect and ninth best overall prospect in the game before the season by Baseball America. Masahiro Tanaka was the only pitcher ranked ahead of Bradley and he's not really a prospect.
In five starts and 24 1/3 Triple-A innings this year, Bradley has a 5.18 ERA with 23 strikeouts and 12 walks. He went 14-5 with a 1.84 ERA, a 9.6 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 152 innings split between High Class-A and Double-A last season. Bradley was the seventh overall pick in the 2011 draft.
Flexor strains have a way of turning into Tommy John surgery, but Bradley's strain was described as mild and there's already a plan in place for him to resume throwing. It's always scary when you're talking about an arm injury though, so expect Arizona to be very careful with the future face of their rotation.
Bradley was expected to make his MLB debut later this season, and while that's still possible, the injury certainly throws a wrench into things.
