Kelly gets back into groove with 1st live BP bullpen session

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Merrill Kelly threw his first live batting practice session of the spring Sunday morning on a back field at Salt River Fields, and said he had no issues with his back, which has kept him off the mound since the early days of camp.

Kelly faced Corbin Carroll and Aramis Ramirez and threw 23 pitches.

"Looked like the same Merrill Kelly," Carroll said afterwards.

Kelly was scratched from what would have been his first live session of the spring on Feb. 21, when he reported discomfort in his mid-back while warming up. After a battery of tests, it was determined he had an intercostal nerve irritation.

"All good," Kelly said after the outing. "100 percent. So, full steam ahead. Another rung on the ladder, another box checked, so we keep moving forward."

Both general manager Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo watched the session.

"It looked like everything was coming out OK," Lovullo said. "He was able to get on the mound. No setbacks or limitations between pitches, so I feel like things went well. I asked the people in back of me what his velo was and it was 90 mph, up to 93 mph, so that’s pretty normal. The stuff looked sharp. Everything seems to be OK. Post-outing, he seemed to be feeling just fine. So that’s really, really good news."

Kelly said that provided he wakes up feeling good on Monday, his next step will be a standard between-starts bullpen session and then -- he hopes -- a Cactus League game.

"The fact that hitters are in there, and I can stop worrying about the back and start thinking about my sequencing, or my pitch shape -- or something like that -- is a good sign that I'm closer to being back than not," Kelly said.

Lovullo had named Kelly as his Opening Day starter early in camp, but the back issue set him back enough that he won't have time to be a full-go for the opener. There is still a possibility that he could be on the Opening Day roster, however, and pitch at the back end of the rotation.

"If we can push him to the very back of the rotation, which would be [game] five, home game No. 2 against the Tigers, we’ll examine that," Lovullo said. "We’ll definitely look at that, but I don’t know where it stands right now."

Waldschmidt among the cuts

The Diamondbacks made 15 cuts to their spring roster Sunday.

LHP Mitch Bratt, RHP Juan Burgos, LHP Kohl Drake, RHP Grant Holman and INF Jose Fernandez optioned to Triple-A Reno, while RHP Gerardo Carrillo, RHP Hayden Durke, RHP Junior Fernandez, LHP Spencer Giesting, RHP Taylor Rashi, INF LuJames Groover, INF Cristofer Torin, INF Tommy Troy, OF A.J. Vukovich and OF Ryan Waldschmidt were reassigned to Minor League camp.

Waldschmidt, the organization's top prospect per MLB Pipeline, was the most notable of the moves. He was always a long shot to make the Opening Day roster, and those odds got longer with news that injured left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. could be back in late April or early May, as opposed to midseason as had been feared when he suffered a torn ACL last September.

"I felt like he had a good Spring Training," Hazen said of Waldschmidt. "He’s got 300 at-bats in Double-A. I think he's certainly advanced for this point in his career. I think that him going down and continuing to get reps, and improving defensively and offensively is critical. Hopefully at some point he’s on our team this year. But he’s still got some things to kind of fine-tune."

Waldschmidt showed a tremendous approach at the plate last year in the Minor Leagues and had some good at-bats this spring as well, but Hazen said there was a "decent amount of chasing" in Cactus League games and that should lessen with more experience.

Fernandez, the club’s No. 27 prospect who advanced to Double-A Amarillo last year, also impressed this spring.

"I think he really started to come into his own over the last year," Hazen said. "We’re excited about that. He’s got all kinds of tools. And he’s a pretty smart baseball player. If he can refine that stuff, he has a chance to be an everyday player at the Major League level."