MESA, Ariz. — A.J. Puk has tried to separate himself from injuries throughout his entire baseball career but it’s been like a game of tag between a child and a professional sprinter.

No matter how hard he’s worked to outrun them, injuries have caught him at every turn. They found him in the form of back spasms in his junior year of college at Florida, and again with the A’s when he tore his UCL before the 2018 season and required Tommy John surgery, which led to a recovery process that spilled into the 2019 campaign.

In 2020, Puk didn’t throw a single inning due to a shoulder injury that cropped up on multiple occasions. In September, he underwent a surgery to mend the ailing joint.

To a degree, Puk saw the injuries coming. Though he may not have been able to anticipate their magnitude, the foresight allowed him to shape what he believes to be the best mindset to handle it all.

“If you ask any player they probably all wish that at some point in their career they didn’t get injured,” Puk said. “You’re going to get injured. It’s just all how you bounce back from it.”

Puk said he had a productive offseason in preparation for this season. He worked on getting healthy and improving his technique on the mound in order to put himself in the best position possible to play a full season without incident.

The southpaw said he hopes to start in his age-26 season but said that it will largely come down to his health. Right now, he believes that to be in a great spot.

“Probably about halfway through my rehab and playing catch progression this offseason I just completely forgot that I had shoulder surgery,” Puk said. “I would just come to the field every day and play catch like nothing ever happened.”

In 11.1 big league innings, Puk showed flashes of why prospect evaluators sang his praises. He allowed four earned runs and struck out 13 batters while showing off his upper 90s fastball and sharp slider.

Since 2017, Puk has accumulated just 36.2 innings pitched between High-A, Double-A, Triple-A and the majors.

“I got my body in a good position to come out there and compete,” Puk said. “I want to come out and compete every day and I feel like I’m in a position to do that. I’m excited to get this year going.”

Puk worked out at Cressey Sports Performance in Florida over the offseason alongside fellow A’s lefty Jesus Luzardo. The two lived together and Puk got to attend several Luzardo family dinners where he said arepas quickly became his new favorite food.

Puk’s stay in South Florida also taught him important lessons about how to best utilize his 6-foot-7, 248-pound frame, something he feels will contribute to his health moving forward.

“I’ve got good ranges of motion and I just had to learn how to control my body in those ranges and create more stability, which will lead to more success for staying on the field,” Puk said.

In his career-long game of tag, Puk feels as though he’s reached a point where he may not need to run as fast. The offseason got him back to a positive point. It isn’t the way it was before.

“Previously, the past year and a half I was a little hesitant coming in just knowing that it’s going to take a while for (his shoulder) to feel good,” Puk said. “Now it’s just ready to go.”

— Melvin was hoping to announce a starting pitcher for Sunday’s seven-inning Cactus League opener against the Dodgers but couldn’t after the team had to “move some things around.”

While he couldn’t tab a pitcher for the start, the A’s 11th-year manager said that outfielders Ramon Laureano and Mark Canha, first baseman Mitch Moreland and shortstop Elvis Andrus are expected to appear in Sunday’s contest.

— The A’s first four spring training games will be seven-inning contests, according to Melvin. Per the Major League Baseball 2021 operations manual, spring training games through March 13 will last seven innings but can be shortened to five innings or extended to nine upon the mutual agreement of both managers. Starting March 14, games will be scheduled for the normal nine innings but can be shortened to seven.

— After testing positive for COVID-19 and missing the first several days of camp, A’s right-handed starter Frankie Montas has rejoined the team and resumed baseball activities, his manager said Friday. Though he is “a couple of days behind everyone,” Montas has started his spring throwing routine.