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Clearly Archie Bradley isn’t the same pitcher he was before his DL-stint. His woes continued last night after the Atlanta Braves chased him for five runs in only five innings, Bradley’s fourth-straight poor outing. It’s no coincidence that all four outings have come since the injury.
It would be wise for the Arizona Diamondbacks to send their prized pitcher down to Triple-A to fine-tune his craft. Bradley was sidelined after a line drive off the bat of Carlos Gonzalez cracked him in the face and fractured a bone in his sinus cavity. From the bruises on his swollen face, to his most recent outing, it hasn’t been a pretty several weeks for the young pitcher.
To put it into perspective, before the injury Bradley had a dazzling 1.17 ERA and 2-0 record. In his last four outing since Bradley’s ERA has ballooned to a less-than respectable 5.8. Further, the Diamondbacks have lost three of them. You can’t particularly blame the bats for the losses either, something that is often easy to do with Arizona. Despite only scoring one run in last night’s contest, the offense has given Bradley plenty of help scoring five, seven and four runs respectively in the other contests.
Pitching is a delicate topic with the team. Quality starts don’t come very often at this point in the organization, but with Patrick Corbin due back very shortly and Rubby De La Rosa throwing some quality stuff, it is essential that the team’s top pitching prospect and future of the squad gets his head back on straight.
His first four outings proved he had the mechanics and maturity to succeed. Whether it’s mental or overcompensation, the team and Bradley can’t afford for outings like Monday’s debacle to continue.
