D-Backs notebook: Montero likely to miss start of season

TUCSON - Medical tests indicate catcher Miguel Montero will have a difficult time being ready to open the regular season with the Diamondbacks.

D-Backs Montero to have CAT scan in Valley

Montero will not play in a spring training game for at least two weeks after results of a CT scan on his fractured right index finger by Dr. Dan Sheridan in the Valley on Friday showed incomplete recovery, manager Bob Melvin said.

“Nothing’s displaced. The fracture just hasn’t healed, hasn’t compacted as well as they would like, so they’re going to do a bone stimulator in the next couple of weeks to speed up the recovery,” Melvin said after Friday’s 7-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Montero suffered the broken finger in a winter league game in his native Venezuela in December and has not taken batting practice or done all his throwing drills in camp here.

“There’s an outside chance” Montero could be ready for the season opener March 31, Melvin said.

“But based on where the injury is, and that you want to kind of ease him into it, it’s probably a little more difficult to get him ready for a season. I’m not saying for sure. But I’m saying a lot more difficult.”

Robby Hammock is the No. 3 catcher behind starter Chris Snyder, and Montero and would appear to be the logical candidate to replace Montero on the roster on opening day, if necessary.

Hammock was on the opening day roster last season after spring injuries sidelined Carlos Quentin and Jeff DaVanon.

“I’m always going to be ready and willing and do whatever it takes,” Hammock said.

COVER GUY, PART II

Sports Illustrated plans to feature Justin Upton on the cover of its 2008 preview issue. Upton, Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki and Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun are to sit – tentatively, in a convertible – for a photo to go with a cover story on the young stars in the major leagues.

“Those guys both had big years last year. I hope they rub something off on me,” Upton said.

The photo is to be shot March 13, when Milwaukee is in Tucson for a spring game against the D-Backs. Colorado plays at Hi Corbett Field against Texas that day.

“I feel like I’m a guy who is going to make progress,” said Upton, who hit .221 in 140 at-bats after he was purchased by the D-Backs last August.

“I work hard every year to make myself better. I can definitely see myself in the mold with that up-and-coming group.”

Upton and his brother, B.J., were featured on the cover of the most recent issue of ESPN The Magazine.

SHORT HOPS

Stephen Drew (three wisdom teeth removed) was held out of Friday’s game but is scheduled to make his spring debut today, Melvin said.

Drew, Mark Reynolds, Chris Young and Justin Upton are the D-Backs’ starters who will travel to Hermosillo for a split-squad game against the White Sox on Sunday.

Edgar Gonzalez, who has spent several winters pitching for Hermosillo, is scheduled to start and pitch two innings. Melvin will manage that team; bench coach Kirk Gibson will manage the squad that plays the White Sox at TEP. …

The D-Backs used the designated hitter for a second straight game, using Upton at DH on Friday after Trot Nixon started there Thursday.

Brandon Webb, who pitched despite an upper respiratory infection, needed only 16 pitches in his two innings, facing only six batters. “It was his call,” Melvin said of Webb’s decision to pitch. Webb will pitch again Tuesday, on three days’ rest, in the D-Backs’ exhibition opener in the Valley against Texas in Surprise.

Randy Johnson is to do his next throwing Tuesday, when he is scheduled to face hitters in batting practice. He will have four days off between mound activity, the longest he has gone between outings this spring.

ON DECK

 What: The Diamondbacks play the second of four consecutive games against the Chicago White Sox at TEP at 1:05 p.m. today, with the two scheduled for a split-squad doubleheader at TEP and in Hermosilllo, Sonora, on Sunday afternoon.
TV/Radio: KTAR (620 AM, 92.3 FM).
Pitchers: Diamondbacks - Dan Haren, Brooks Brown, Max Scherzer, Brandon Lyon, Chad Qualls, Leo Rosales, Juan Gutierrez. White Sox - Gavin Floyd, Boone Logan, Bobby Jenks, Ehren Wassermann, Andrew Sisco.
Records: Diamondbacks 0-1-1. White Sox 2-1.

AT A GLANCE

White Sox 7, D-Backs 5
Notable pitching: Brandon Webb, pitching with a head cold, gave up one hit while facing the minimum six batters in his two innings, striking out two and getting a double play. … Yusmeiro Petit threw two shutout innings, striking out three. … Dustin Nippert gave up three runs on four hits in the ninth, when the White Sox broke a tie at 4.
Notable hitting: Mark Reynolds hit the D-Backs’ first home run of the spring, a three-run shot in the fourth inning that landed under the scoreboard in left field. ... Conor Jackson had his second straight 2-for-3 game. … Gerardo Parra had two more singles, making him 4-for-4 this spring.