{"id":46658,"date":"2021-05-04T17:03:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T21:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=46658"},"modified":"2021-05-04T17:03:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T21:03:48","slug":"christian-walker-tim-locastro-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2021\/05\/04\/christian-walker-tim-locastro-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Walker, Tim Locastro “Excited” to Return to Diamondbacks after Injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> first baseman Christian Walker and outfielder Tim Locastro returned to the active roster Monday after stints on the injured list. Walker will be in the starting lineup for Tuesday evening\u2019s road game against the Miami Marlins<\/a>, while Locastro will be a reserve. Both Walker and Locastro spoke to the press via Zoom Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Christian Walker \u2014 \u201cExcited\u201d to Return to the Team<\/h3>\n

The team shut down activity for Christian Walker for about a week. He did rotation progressions after his one-week shutdown and then eased his way into hitting. All of that was \u201cpainless,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n

Walker is excited to jump back into the fray right now with the team doing as well as they are. Manager Torey Lovullo told both Walker and Locastro to continue being who they are and not worry about trying to do more than that. Walker simply wants to \u201cfit in and be there for (his) team when they need (him).\u201d<\/p>\n

At the alt site, even when Walker couldn\u2019t swing, he was still watching. That and standing in the velo machine cage without a bat allowed him to keep his timing as far as pitches go. He managed to get 15 at-bats or so at the alt site.<\/p>\n

No Pressure<\/h4>\n

The play of his teammates during his injury has been \u201cexciting, motivating, (and) hopeful\u201d for Christian Walker. He said that it seemed like every night, \u201cno matter what a player\u2019s role or service time was,\u201d someone was stepping up. At times, someone made a big hit. Other times, someone drew a key walk. He could \u201ctell what the vibe was in the dugout\u201d just by watching his teammates laugh and have a good time during the games. \u201cEverything is awesome when you win,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

With the current roster setup, Walker does not feel any pressure to \u201cbe a hero,\u201d in the words of Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m just a puzzle piece here,\u201d said Walker. \u201cI want to be there when my team needs me. Otherwise, (I\u2019ll be) in the dugout cheering them on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the injury, Walker felt slightly frustrated by the lack of results for the work he\u2019s been putting in. He felt good the whole time, but balls simply weren\u2019t falling or getting through. He said that the mental break might have been what he needed. Now, given the play of the team, he feels like he has \u201csome catching up to do\u201d just to get up to the level of his teammates.<\/p>\n

Tim Locastro \u2014 “Ready to Go”<\/h3>\n

Locastro said he is \u201cready to go and excited to be back.\u201d The seven days that he had stitches were tough since he couldn\u2019t do anything to make his hand sweat. He had a freezer bag on his hand inside a wrap whenever he went in the pool. Avoiding sweating (on his hands) while living in Phoenix \u2014 one of the hottest cities in North America \u2014 was a bit of a challenge, even with the freezer bag. He had to use baby powder and rosin to keep his hands from sweating.<\/p>\n

When he suffered the injury, the dislocated finger faced the opposite direction than it was supposed to. It confused him more than \u201cfreaking (him) out because (he) saw blood.\u201d He was more upset that his stolen base streak ended than anything else.<\/p>\n

During his seven-day downtime, Locastro read two more chapters in the book he\u2019s been working on for the past three months. That book is Relentless <\/em>by Tim Grover, Michael Jordan\u2019s trainer. He said that reading is one of the few things that he doesn\u2019t \u201cdo fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to Play<\/h3>\n

Locastro was \u201cshocked\u201d when he picked up a bat again. When doing so, he \u201cdidn\u2019t have any pain at all.\u201d As soon as he started hitting, he didn’t feel any of the lasting soreness that the doctor said he might have.<\/p>\n

He will continue to slide head-first but will wear a sliding mitt at least until the end of the season. He wore the mitt in 2019 due to a minor thumb injury. In that injury, when he was sliding in, his thumb hit someone\u2019s knee. It bothered him a little bit, but it annoyed him more than anything. He stopped wearing it when he dove into third and ended up having his hand slip off the bag.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>