Diamondbacks prospect Archie Bradley shut down with elbow injury - MLB

Arizona’s season can get worse, it turns out: Now stud pitching prospect Archie Bradley, who seemed to be on the verge of arriving in the majors, has been placed on the Triple-A disabled list with flexor strain in his elbow.

Officially the Diamondbacks are calling Bradley’s injury a “minor” strain, but the hard-throwing right-hander struggled for three straight starts before being shut down, allowing 12 runs in 12 innings while walking eight.

Bradley was the seventh overall pick in the 2011 draft and ranked as a consensus top-25 prospect in each of the past three seasons. Last season, at age 20, he threw 152 innings with a 1.84 ERA between Single-A and Double-A. But now general manager Kevin Towers won’t have to answer questions about why Bradley isn’t in the majors for a while.

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ST. LOUIS — Miles Mikolas is sticking with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The right-hander signed a three-year, $55.75 million contract on Friday that will carry through the 2025 season.

The new deal replaces a $68 million, four-year contract signed in February 2019 that covered the 2020-23 seasons and was set to pay $15.75 million this year.

Mikolas will receive a $5 million signing bonus payable July 1 and will make $18.75 million in 2023 and $16 million in each of the following two seasons. Mikolas can earn a $250,000 bonus for winning a Cy Young Award, $50,000 for All-Star election or selection or winning a Gold Glove, $100,000 for League Championship Series MVP and $150,000 for World Series MVP.

Mikolas is scheduled to make the second opening-day start of his big league career next Thursday when the Cardinals host Toronto. Mikolas went 12-13 with a 3.29 ERA last season while helping St. Louis to the NL Central title.

“Miles stands among the top pitchers in the game today, and has continued to provide a steady presence for us both in the rotation and inside the clubhouse,” St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak said in a statement.

Mikolas is 45-40 with a 3.79 in 143 games with San Diego, Texas and St. Louis. He recently pitched six shutout innings in two appearances for the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic.