Billy Buckner came to the Diamondbacks in a December deal in which troubled
infielder Alberto Callaspo was dealt to the Kansas City Royals. Buckner got promoted to the majors to eat innings out of the bullpen, resting the team's other arms.
In an appropriate happenstance, Buckner defeated his former team in his
Diamondbacks debut, thanks to a Chad Tracy extra-inning walkoff homer.
"We saw [Buckner] in Spring Training some," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin
said. "He's got a real good curveball. He's working on his changeup. His
fastball is kind of up and down, in and out."
Buckner started 14 games for the Tucson Sidewinders, going 4-5 with a 4.48 ERA.
He was winless in April with a 7.94 ERA, but rebounded with a 4-2 record and
2.60 ERA over his final eight starts prior to the callup. His most recent
Triple-A outing featured eight shutout innings on June 10th.
Max Scherzer returned to Tucson despite a terrific month-and-a-half in the
majors in which he posted a 2.90 ERA through 31 innings. He had succeeded
both in starter and relief roles, but the demotion allows the organization to
limit the innings of a top prospect who only threw 90.2 frames with Diamondbacks
affiliates last season.
"It's certainly not performance-based. He did terrific for us," Melvin said.
"We needed a little bit more length and we had a need for guys to be able to go
back-to-back days. ... He hasn't done that before."
The organization has not committed to using Scherzer as a starter or reliever in
Tucson. If he is used as a starter, he may often find his spot in the
rotation skipped for extra rest.
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