Arizona Diamondbacks: Steven Souza out for two months

A strained right pectoral muscle will keep Steven Souza, Jr. out of the Arizona Diamondbacks lineup until at least mid-May.

Upon the first thought, the addition of outfielders Steven Souza, Jr., along with speedster Jarrod Dyson, significantly improved the offense of the Arizona Diamondbacks — ignoring the loss of J. D. Martinez to free agency, general manager Mike Hazen pulled off a three-team deal at the start of spring training and acquired Souza, whom the organization regarded as a comparable bat.

At the same time, Hazen improved team speed by signing Dyson, who was a free agent. Given Dyson’s speed and Souza acumen as a robust and defensive corner outfielder, there was little solace in the loss of Martinez.

Most pundits held that the three months Martinez had with the Diamondbacks last season would be most difficult to duplicate. At the same time, Souza’s 30 homers last season for the Rays could match any Martinez numbers, and the “x” factor was Souza better fielding skills.

That was on clearly on display through spring games. That’s because Souza, from his position in right field, attacked any fly ball hit in his vicinity and showed a strong knack for immediately reading the ball off the bat.

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With Souza’s comparable production to Martinez and Dyson’s speed, that represented a marked increase in the Diamondbacks’ overall offensive capability.

Now, all of this is on hold because Souza is out of the lineup until mid-May, at the earliest. He sustained a strained right pectoral muscle while diving for Brandon Belt’s eventual double in Wednesday night’s game with the San Francisco Giants at Salt River, and is immediately lost for several weeks.

Opening the season on the DL, Souza is expected to miss at least the first month and one-half of the season.

The injury could have been worse. Souza did not sustain a tear nor incur additional interior damage. The plan now is rest, and he told the Associated Press that he hopes the trip to the DL is not terribly long.

"“After (Wednesday) night I was obviously in a little bit of pain and you never know what to think in those situations,” he said. “But after (Thursday) morning, we got some good news that I won’t be gone too long.”"

The plan to replace Souza remains fluid. Manager Torey Lovullo has several options, but given Lovullo’s penchant for moving players around and requiring rest, there are a plethora of choices.

One could be to move David Peralta, from his current slot in left, to right field, Souza’s position, and platoon Yasmany Tomas against lefties and Dyson against righties in left. Another possibility is moving Chris Owings directly into right field and keep Peralta in left.

Plus, Souza’s power spot in the line-up needs to be addressed. Penciled in the fifth hole behind Paul Goldschmidt, hitting third and Jake Lamb in the clean-up slot, Souza provided a strong righty-lefty-rightly combination in the middle of the lineup. Now, Lovullo is forced to utilize his creative skills and well as his baseball acumen to compensate for Souza’s loss.

On the diamond …

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On Thursday night, the Diamondbacks dropped a 3-1 decision to the Chicago White Sox before 8,576 at Salt River.

The only run was driven in by a sixth-inning single from Daniel Descalso. Starter Taijuan Walker took the loss but turned in a credible effort. The right-hander pitched 5 2/3 innings and recorded seven strikeouts.

Keeping a promise made earlier in the week, Lovullo began using pitchers in back-to-back days. On Wednesday in a backfield at Salt River, relievers Archie Bradley and Brad Boxberger each pitched one inning. In Thursday’s game, Bradley and Boxberger turned in one inning of work each. Yoshi Hirano, who is penciled in as one candidate to close, is expected to experience game action in the back-to-back games over the final week of spring training competition.

Next: Chris Owings emerges in a hybrid role

The Diamondbacks engage in their third straight night game on tonight. That’s when Lovullo hands the ball over the lefty Patrick Corbin to start a game against the Cleveland Indians in Goodyear.