Late in the 2025 season, Tyler Locklear was getting an opportunity to show what he could do for the Arizona Diamondbacks following a trade from the Seattle Mariners. He came over along with Juan Burgos in exchange for Eugenio Suarez.

Locklear got off to a slow start with Arizona, but was beginning to turn things around at the plate starting in September, going 5-for-16 with a homer and a couple of walks during a five-game hitting streak to start the month.

Then disaster struck, as he tried to corral an errant throw from third baseman Jordan Lawlar. A collision with the runner ensued, and Locklear suffered suffered season ending injuries, requiring surgery for both his shoulder and elbow.

This is the play that Tyler Locklear got hurt on to end his season last year

Red Sox take the lead on an error https://t.co/kmAgzS5jEp #MLBFilmRoom via @MLB

— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) February 11, 2026

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Tyler Locklear Discusses His Injury and Timeline

I had a chance to catch up with Locklear on Tuesday to ask some specifics about his injury and return timeline. Below is the brief Q&A with the first baseman:

Q: How has your offseason been going?

“It’s been going real well, honestly. Progressing every day. No setbacks quite yet, but starting to dig into the more baseball activity during spring training, so we’ll see.”

Q: What kind of activities are you able to do at this point?

“We’ve started doing slow swings, some knees and wide baseground ball work. I started playing catch this week, catching by myself andstarting to progress into that come next week.”

Q: You had both shoulder and elbow surgery. Can you explain a little bit about surgeries you had?

“It was a UCL (elbow) and Labrum (shoulder) surgery. Dr. [Keith] Meister was able to do both of them at the same time, so it was a similar time frame, just some discrepancies between the two and kind of the rehab process and what you’re able to do and not able to do. [Head Trainer Ken Crenshaw] has been doing a great job working it in and doing double work day by day.”

Q: That’s got to be a pretty unique situation trying to jigsaw puzzle together a rehab program with two such disparate injuries.

“Yeah, it’s Ken’s first, he said, so he’s been doing a real good job. We’ve been doing it every day and progressed every day, so no setbacks, like I said. It’s kind of went real well, honestly.”

Q: Have they given you a timeline, a target for return to play?

“Not quite sure yet. We’ll see, like I said, how the swing progression and kind of more baseball activity goes. We’ll probably have a better idea then.”

Q: Think there’s any chance you might get in a spring training game before the end of spring?

“Probably not.”

Based on the discussion it looks like Locklear will certainly start the year on the injured list, and have to work his way back through extended spring training and then a rehab stint for Triple-A Reno.

With the signing of Carlos Santana to platoon with Pavin Smith at first base, the D-backs are likely to take their time with Locklear and make sure he’s fully healed. There is no need to rush him back at this point.

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