D-backs activate Smith, option Tawa, move Santana to 60-day IL

PHOENIX -- For the first time in over two months, manager Torey Lovullo’s lineup card reads: Designated hitter, Pavin Smith.

The D-backs activated Smith prior to Monday’s series opener against the Dodgers at Chase Field, optioning utility man Tim Tawa to Triple-A Reno as the corresponding move.

Smith appeared in five rehab games during late May, one with the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League club and four with Reno, a stretch in which he combined to go 7-for-21 (.333) with a pair of RBIs. During his stint with the Aces, he put five balls in play in excess of 95 mph.

“He was really busting it as hard as he could to get back here as soon as possible,” Lovullo said. “We know what that at-bat looks like. We know what he's capable of doing.

“Just getting him here and getting him into this lineup is going to impact us in a very positive way.”

Tawa scuffled across 29 games (starting 16) to begin the season. He hit just .169 with a .519 OPS with sporadic plate appearances, but he also filled a vital role on the roster as the team’s do-everything defender. The 27-year-old saw time at first, second and third base, in addition to his time in left field, a role the team hopes he can continue to reprise moving forward.

“It’s always a very tough move, sending out somebody like that who is just a quality baseball player, a quality human being,” Lovullo said. “Even though he [wanted] to play more and he wasn't, he wasn't complaining about it; he was doing all that he could day by day to make a difference. He's going to get on a little bit of a role in Triple-A, and I told him, ‘Go down there, do your job and we'll see you here at some point very, very soon.’”

With Smith having been on the 60-day injured list, the club chose to place first baseman Carlos Santana in his spot as he continues to rehab a strained right adductor that has kept him out of big league action since April 5. Santana began a rehab assignment with Reno on May 2 and was nearing a return to the active roster a week later, but felt a twinge in the adductor that shut him back down. The move is largely procedural, with the switch-hitter back to taking live batting practice and running the bases with mild intensity.

Smith underwent left elbow surgery on April 16 to remove loose bodies from his inflamed left throwing elbow. While he made one start at the cold corner with Reno, he will primarily see DH duties for the time being as he continues to rehab with the big league club. Ildemaro Vargas and Jose Fernandez will get the lion’s share of opportunities at first as Santana and Smith both build back up.

It marks the second consecutive year that an injury has largely sidetracked Smith. In limited samples over the past two seasons, he has posted a 130 OPS+ and particularly excelled against right-handed pitching (.852 OPS). The 30-year-old has turned in above-average barrel and hard-hit percentages over that span, and his propensity for extra-base thump figures to aid a lineup that has hit the third-fewest home runs (35) in the National League against righties and posted a pedestrian .672 OPS.