Puk takes major step toward return
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A familiar face was back in the Chase Field clubhouse Tuesday afternoon, but more importantly for the Diamondbacks, he was back on the bullpen mound.
Closer A.J. Puk, who has been out since last May after undergoing the Tommy John brace procedure, threw a bullpen session in front of the Major League staff following one thrown earlier by Corbin Burnes, who is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
Puk's timeline to return is ahead of Burnes' for a couple of reasons. First, he did not have the full Tommy John repair that Burnes had; the rehab for the brace procedure is a couple of months shorter.
In addition, Burnes is a starting pitcher, so it will take him a while to build up his pitch count to return, whereas Puk, as a reliever, has a shorter build-up.
Puk is hoping for a return in May, while Burnes is more likely to be back in action around the All-Star break.
"This was about my fourth official bullpen," Puk said. "And you know, we're progressing well, recovering well, right now. Excited where my body and arm are at, and looking forward to just continuing."
Puk said he thinks the plan is for him to throw around 10 bullpen sessions before he starts facing hitters. Then there will be a rehabilitation stint somewhere.
"There's no for sure [timeframe], just kind of whatever I would need," Puk said.
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This isn't Puk's first experience with this type of rehab; he underwent the full Tommy John procedure in 2018, when he was with the Marlins.
That time around, he got anxious as he got closer to returning, but this time around, he's more focused on taking things one step at a time.
"This time, either just more maturity-wise, or just kind of knowing how it unfolds, I'm just looking forward to just getting back facing hitters and just hitting those progressions," Puk said.
"It's definitely a fine line. You don't want to go too hard, too soon. That can set you back, and now you're missing more time than you should. And you also don't want to baby it to where, once it is time to go, something messes up. So it's just kind of one of those where you just listen to your body, and your body kind of tells you what you need to do."
Puk has been doing his rehab and throwing his bullpens at the team's Spring Training facility at Salt River Fields, but as he gets closer to returning, he wants to throw his 'pens at Chase Field when the team is home so that he can be around his teammates.