LOS ANGELES -- D-backs outfielder Steven Souza Jr. will have surgery on his left knee Tuesday in Cincinnati. The surgery will be done by Dr. Timothy Kremchek.

Souza sustained a torn ACL, LCL and partial tears of his PCL and posterior lateral capsule while slipping on home plate during an exhibition game this past Monday night at Chase Field.

Souza will not play in 2019, and D-backs managerTorey Lovullo said that Souza faces a “grinding” year of rehabilitation.

Always prepared

Teammates have long raved about the way Christian Walker studies hitting, and in listening to him talk about his pinch-hit home run off Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly on Friday night, you can understand why.

Walker fell behind reliever Joe Kelly 0-2 before taking three straight balls -- a curveball, changeup and fastball. Then, he smacked a 3-2 curve over the center-field wall for a game-tying, three-run homer.

“I faced Joe before coming up with the Orioles in Spring Training and stuff like that, but not since he’s been throwing harder out of the 'pen,” Walker said. “I tried to keep it simple. I knew he was going to come in and try to dominate and pound the zone. Started with a good first curveball, kind of get me off the fastball first pitch, but I just really wanted to sell out to be on the fastball knowing that he’s got that velocity in his back pocket. So, for me, it was just about being on time with the heater and trusting everything else.”

Catching rotation

Catcher Carson Kelly, who hit a pinch-hit double to drive in the winning run in his first D-backs plate appearance on Friday night, is expected to get his first start Sunday afternoon with Luke Weaver on the mound.

Weaver and Kelly worked together when they played for the Cardinals. The pair was part of the return the D-backs got from St. Louis in exchange for first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

As for how the D-backs plan to split up playing time between Kelly, Alex Avila and John Ryan Murphy, Lovullo said he sees it as each catcher getting an even number of starts for now.

“He didn’t catch any of the first three games, but he’s going to find himself catching part of the rotation,” Lovullo said of Kelly, who was stuck behind Yadier Molina in St. Louis. “How that plays out exactly, I don’t know. I want to see how it all works with each guy as I hand it around. He’s going to be a special player here for a long time. I want to integrate him the best way I can. I don’t want to shock him into a certain situation that we’re not going to get his best. I want to slowly watch him develop.”

Nerves

Robbie Ray, who made his first start of the season Friday, reached three-ball counts on nine of the 23 batters he faced, often missing up in the zone.

Ray struck out nine and allowed only three hits, but he was out of the game after five innings due to five walks that helped raise his pitch count to 102.

“I think maybe it was a little bit of first-game nerves,” Ray said. “Not necessarily mechanical issues or anything. I felt good, but I was missing up a little bit and I think that maybe had to do with nerves.”