The Diamondbacks are optioning right-hander Brandon Pfaadt to Triple-A Reno, per Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. The plan is for him to get stretched back out as a starter after he was moved to the bullpen a couple of months ago. The Snakes will also place right-hander Taylor Clarke on the bereavement/family medical emergency list. Righty Kade Strowd and lefty Philip Abner will be recalled as corresponding moves.
Pfaadt once looked to be establishing himself as a core rotation piece in Arizona. He came up in 2023 and gave the Snakes 96 innings. His 5.72 earned run average wasn’t strong but he turned things on at the right time. He posted a 3.27 ERA over five postseason starts, helping the Diamondbacks go as far as the World Series that year.
In 2024, his first full major league season, he put up a 4.71 ERA in 32 starts. There was some optimism that he deserved even better. His .315 batting average on balls in play and 64.5% strand rate were both to the unfortunate side. His 24.3% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate and 41.5% ground ball rate were all good numbers. His 3.61 FIP and 3.65 SIERA suggested he would have been even better with more neutral luck from the baseball gods.
The Diamondbacks presumably felt his best days were ahead. In March of 2025, they signed him to a five-year extension covering the 2026 through 2030 seasons. That guaranteed him $45MM and came with a club option for 2031.
His 2025 season wasn’t quite as good the year prior. His 5.25 ERA was about half a run worse than 2024 and his 19.2% strikeout rate was a drop of more than five points. He began 2026 still with a rotation spot, alongside Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodríguez, Ryne Nelson and Michael Soroka, as Merrill Kelly was on the IL. It’s possible the Snakes planned on bumping Soroka or Nelson to the bullpen once Kelly was healthy. However, Pfaadt posted a 5.94 ERA in his first three starts while Soroka and Nelson fared better. That led to Pfaadt moving to the bullpen instead.
His first relief appearance was effectively a starter’s workload, as he logged 6 1/3 innings. Of his next four appearances, two of them were for three innings and another was for 2 1/3. He’s been leaned on less in recent weeks, as his five most recent appearances have been less than two innings. On the whole, he has a 5.91 ERA since moving to the bullpen.
Pfaadt’s profile is a little odd, as his luck refuses to even out. In almost 500 career innings, he has a .313 BABIP and 66.2% strand rate. For reference, league average BABIP is usually about .290, with strand rate usually about 72%. Perhaps that’s because he pounds the strike zone, with a 5.8% walk rate in his career, allowing hitters to go into swing mode. He hasn’t been able to counteract that with strikeouts lately, only punching out 19% of opponents since the start of 2025. The result is that he keeps underperforming his underlying metrics. He has a career ERA of 5.19 but a 4.00 SIERA. His SIERA has been more than a run lower than his ERA in each season of his career.
Ideally, Pfaadt and the Diamondbacks can figure out a path towards better results. The Snakes will need some depth in the short term. The club was hoping to get Corbin Burnes back from his Tommy John surgery rehab around the All-Star break but he just suffered a teres major strain and will likely be out until September. Cristian Mena just underwent shoulder surgery and won’t be a factor for a while. Gallen, Kelly and Nelson all have ERAs around 5.00 at the moment. Soroka and Rodríguez are pitching well but Soroka has a notable injury history while Rodríguez is outperforming some poor peripherals. Dylan Ray, Mitch Bratt and Kohl Drake are on the 40-man roster but Ray and Drake are struggling in the minors. Bratt has good numbers this year but just landed on the minor league injured list. The club could look to add at the deadline but it will be hard to make notable acquisitions for a few more weeks.
As mentioned, Pfaadt signed a five-year deal and this is only the first year of the deal, so he’s a notable part of their long-term picture as well. Gallen and Soroka are impending free agents, so there are two rotation holes open next year. Burnes should be back in the mix but will be a question mark after hardly pitching in 2025 and 2026.
Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images
Pfaadt goes the dynamite
Dbacks pfront office pfelt it was time.
Cutting the pfaadt.
Throws a lotta pfaaaaat pitches.
But lovululu loves him lots….luckily