Duplantier 'healthy,' feeling 'great'

PHOENIX -- Who is starting for the D-backs has become a day-to-day proposition due to injuries and illness, so whether Jon Duplantier gets another start or moves back to the bullpen is a question that manager Torey Lovullo was not prepared to answer Friday.

Duplantier made an emergency start Thursday in place of Matt Peacock, who was ill (non-COVID related), finding out around 10:45 a.m. MST that he was starting that night's 6:40 p.m. game.

The right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings.

"I think all things are on the table right now as we walk through it piece by piece and day by day," Lovullo said. "I thought he threw the ball well."

The 2020 season was a lost season of sorts for Duplantier, who cut his right index finger while shaving during Spring Training, forcing him to miss some time and then he developed forearm issues after the shutdown that kept him from pitching at the team's alternate training site during the summer.

Prior to Thursday night, Duplantier's last appearance in a Major League game came on Sept. 29, 2019.

"It's been a grind," Duplantier said. "You know, nobody wants to go through injuries. I've had my fair share. But what feels good, is I can, like say, I'm healthy, every day I show up and I feel great. I learned a lot in this stretch. It was not easy. That injury last summer was not fun, by any means. And it hurt not being able to compete in any capacity, whether it was even outside, big leagues, didn't matter. The inability to go out there and compete. It weighed on me more than the injury itself."

Duplantier was ranked among the organization's top prospects when he debuted in the Majors in 2019. He's no longer a rookie and therefore doesn't appear in prospect lists anymore.

But that doesn't mean the D-backs don't still view him in that light.

"They've made sure to tell me, 'Hey, we believe in you,'" Duplantier said.