Diamondbacks option Taylor Rashi, activate Merrill Kelly, move Pfaadt to bullpen

Merrill Kelly’s return forced the Diamondbacks to make a choice, and they chose the path that changes the staff most immediately. Taylor Rashi was optioned to Triple-A Reno on April 13 after Arizona’s 9-7 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, while Brandon Pfaadt was moved out of the rotation and into the bullpen to clear a spot for Kelly’s activation from the injured list.

The move was not just about getting Kelly back on the mound. It was about what Arizona had learned while he was out and how quickly the club wanted to stabilize a rotation that has already been stretched. Kelly landed on the 15-day injured list on March 25, retroactive to March 24, with intercostal nerve irritation. He then threw five scoreless innings in a rehab start for the Triple-A Reno Aces on April 3, and Torey Lovullo said two days later that Kelly would make one more rehab start before returning. Instead, Arizona brought him back for the April 13-15 series, exactly the window MLB.com had flagged for his expected return.

Pfaadt is the arm paying the price for that timing. He heads to the bullpen with a 5.94 ERA across three starts and 16 2/3 innings, a line that made the decision easier for a club trying to keep the rotation from wobbling any further. Michael Soroka will stay in the starting mix, leaving Arizona to reshuffle around Kelly rather than overhaul the whole group.

Rashi’s exit to Reno does not read like a demotion based on performance. He was selected from Reno on April 3, then went right back down less than two weeks later after making two clean major-league appearances. ESPN’s stat log shows he worked 3.0 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and no walks, including two scoreless innings against the Mets on April 9 and one scoreless inning against the Braves on April 5. That is the kind of brief, useful relief work that usually earns a longer look, but Arizona’s heavier pitching load left little room for sentiment.

For Reno, Rashi’s return is the next stop in a process that is really about Phoenix. The Aces are where Arizona can stage the next rotation decision, but the consequential move has already happened: Kelly is back, Pfaadt is in relief, and the Diamondbacks have reset their staff around the arm they trust most to steady it.