Diamondbacks reinstate Gabriel Moreno from injured list, Paul Sewald to IL

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks reinstated starting catcher Gabriel Moreno from the 10-day injured list on Sunday after he missed six weeks with a left adductor strain.

The D-backs also placed reliever and former closer Paul Sewald on the 15-day injured list with left neck discomfort, retroactive to Thursday.

The Diamondbacks will roll with three catchers for the time being: Moreno, Jose Herrera and Adrian Del Castillo.

The club announced Moreno’s return just over an hour before first pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers at Chase Field on Sunday. Herrera remained in the batting order with Moreno available off the bench. The D-backs will head to Colorado for a three-game series starting Monday against the Rockies.

Gabriel Moreno is back for the Diamondbacks

Moreno played five innings in a continuation camp game on Saturday at Salt River Fields, which went as planned.

He rejoins the club with only four series remaining until the postseason, as the regular season finale is on Sept. 29, and the D-backs are in an increasingly tight wild card race.

The 2023 Gold Glove backstop was heating up offensively before he suffered the injury. From the start of July until he went down on Aug. 5, Moreno slashed .333/.412/.476 with two home runs and six doubles. He upped his season OPS from .659 to .729.

On defense, Moreno has been a key run stopper over the past couple seasons, as he led the league with a 39% caught stealing rate last year. He has thrown out 31% of base stealers this season, well above league average (21%).

“Having Gabi back there, I think the number one thing pretty automatic, is shutting down the running game,” general manager Mike Hazen told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke this past week. “If you can take one of those weapons away from some of these teams that rely on it to be dynamic, it can alter the game quite a bit.”

Diamondbacks’ 3 catchers

Herrera and Del Castillo were filling in with Moreno on the shelf. Manager Torey Lovullo said on Saturday there had not been decisions made regarding which catcher the club would keep as the backup.

The duo this season in Arizona has thrown out five of 52 base stealers, as the D-backs have struggled at times to control the run game without Moreno as a deterrent.

Herrera has been a trusted backup over the past couple seasons and has caught each of Zac Gallen’s outings since Moreno landed on the IL. Gallen is the starting pitcher on Sunday.

Del Castillo provides more offensive punch than Herrera, as he burst out of the gates with three home runs and 14 RBIs in his first nine MLB games. The rookie has an .879 OPS in 86 plate appearances.

He has improved his defense this season, but there is still a learning curve.

“It’s a crash course,” Lovullo said on Saturday. “He’s handled it well. He follows the game plan perfectly. But there are times you need to improvise, and I think experience reading swings, knowing hitters, knowing his pitchers, in time, he’ll start to figure out when it’s time to adapt and improvise.”

Bench coach Jeff Banister said Del Castillo has “come as far as we’ve seen any player” since spring training.

“I like the way he manages the game from behind the plate in a short snapshot,” Banister said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of growth still to go. I mean, typically it takes a young catcher more than a year to learn how to, let alone a month-and-a-half.”

Paul Sewald injured

Sewald had not thrown in a game since last Sunday in Houston.

Since losing his closer’s spot following a brutal July, Sewald has thrown 13 innings in a lower-leverage role with a 4.15 ERA, 3.79 FIP, 15 strikeouts and three walks.

Lovullo said on Friday he did not want to rule out Sewald pitching meaningful innings again this season.

“He’s been throwing the ball a little bit better,” Lovullo told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo. “We know that. The fastball is going where he wants to, the secondary stuff is landing. So we don’t feel like he’s too far off.”

Sewald is not eligible to return until the final weekend of the regular season against San Diego.

The Diamondbacks continue to wait on left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (calf strain) and starter Ryne Nelson (shoulder inflammation) to get back from the IL.

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