Diamondbacks’ Brandon Pfaadt reaching ‘critical point’ in determining role moving forward
"It's been a little bit of a challenge to keep him stretched out," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said of Brandon Pfaadt.
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PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt was in unfamiliar territory on Wednesday at Chase Field.
Pfaadt pitched the eighth inning with a 6-3 lead on two days of rest against the San Francisco Giants, and he delivered arguably his most impactful performance since moving to the bullpen. With a 1-2-3 inning, he earned his first hold.
The D-backs moved Pfaadt to the bullpen after his April 11 start, making way for Merrill Kelly’s return.
There were stretches when long relief opportunities to keep him stretched out were prevalent, but that has not been the case for much of this month. Since May 4, the Diamondbacks’ rotation leads baseball in innings pitched (105.1) and is second in ERA (2.48).
Pfaadt has only pitched three times in that span, and his pitch counts have gone 39, 16 and nine.
Manager Torey Lovullo said on Thursday that Pfaadt is at a “critical point” in determining what the road map for the rest of the season looks like.
“It’s been a little bit of a challenge to keep him stretched out, get him some innings. The starters have been throwing the ball really well, so the innings have dried up,” Lovullo said.
“I think our stretched out is going to be an up-down, four-to-six hitters. That will be our definition of keeping him stretched out now.”
That doesn’t sound very stretched out. Not to the degree that he could jump into the rotation in the middle of June and give the D-backs much length if needed.
Lovullo pointed to Randall Delgado and Drey Jameson as cautionary tales, two pitchers who toggled between starting and relieving and got injured.
Ryne Nelson did so last season, but he pitched in long relief in April, made spot starts for an injured Eduardo Rodriguez in May and was able to jump into the rotation for Corbin Burnes in early June, right on the cusp of being moved into a late-inning relief role.
“So, what does that mean if we got to get him really stretched out? I don’t know that answer. But we got to figure that out,” Lovullo said.
“We might have an eye on being able to get him in there for three (innings) and 35 (pitches) or three and 40 if needed at some point,” he later added.
On one hand for Pfaadt, the Diamondbacks’ starters are going deep into games, and Burnes is on the road to return to provide even more depth. On the other, Burnes is looking at a July return. That’s a lot of games to cover, and the Diamondbacks don’t have an experienced alternative in Triple-A Reno.
Pitching coach Brian Kaplan credited Pfaadt with remaining disciplined despite being in a fluid situation, one he could not have envisioned when he signed a contract extension last spring.
Wednesday was a big moment for Pfaadt to contribute to a win after he had been stuck in blowout game purgatory. Had the Diamondbacks scored in the bottom half, Pfaadt would have remained in the game for his first career save, but Arizona maneuvered to closer Paul Sewald in a three-run game.
“It’s a tricky situation. It’s hard in baseball to know when that time for multiple innings is going to come,” Pfaadt told Arizona Sports. “Luckily, our starters have been doing an excellent job the last three weeks or so to go deeper in the game. So, we haven’t needed that situation. So, I think just getting in there for a quick one every now and then has been good. I’m able to still work on some things. You never know in this game when injuries happen. Hopefully they don’t, but that’s kind of our goal to be ready to go if that unfortunate event happens.”
Pfaadt said he’s been throwing bullpens after certain games when he doesn’t pitch to remain sharp, depending on his availability and other circumstances. He added, “I feel like we’ve done a good job if I needed to go at least three innings.”
Since moving to the bullpen, Pfaadt has thrown 17 innings in seven games with a 5.29 ERA and 4.51 FIP.
There’s a different intent to relief pitching, especially in leverage, that Pfaadt is learning as he goes.
Pfaadt had been the most durable starter in the rotation throughout the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Even with underwhelming ERA numbers (4.97), he ate a lot of innings, pitching at least six frames in 34 starts over those two years. That was tied with D-backs teammate Zac Gallen for 19th in MLB.
“That’s given us some freedom to kind of experiment there, but I think the mentality piece is probably the most important part,” Kaplan told Arizona Sports. “He’s getting a chance to come in and just kind of get after it.”
There are so many questions yet to be answered on what the rest of his season looks like, but this was the gamble the D-backs took by keeping him in the big-league bullpen. If they reach the point of no return, what kind of weapon can he become for the bullpen?
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Comments
3 Comments
I agree with AZfan 64, send Pfaadt to Reno to be a starting pitcher which will stretch him out in case he needs to come back up as a starter.
The reality is that the Dbacks took a gamble on Pfaadt and so far it hasn't been paying off. Personally, I thought it was insane for the Dbacks in March 2025 to give Pfaadt a $ 2M signing bonus, a $45M-5YR contract with two bonus years (year 6 and year 7) of $ 21M and $26M AND a limited trade restriction clause to a pitcher that had lifetime ~5.00 ERA.
In 2025, he rewarded the Dbacks by being one of the nine worst starting pitchers in the MLB.
I am so tired of the selling of hopium and kool aid by the Arizona Sports talking heads and writers on Pfaadt. He is NOT cutting it as a pitcher...just admit it. STOP this crap of selective statistics like he has an ERA of 0.00 when pitching between the first and third out in the fourth inning in games at Chase Field (this isn't a real statistics but I wrote to illustrate how ridiculous the statistics that Alex Weiner actually uses in his articles).
The reality is that there are better starting pitchers than Pfaadt and there are better relievers than Pfaadt. When Puk and J-Mart returns as well as Burnes, the Dbacks management will have to make some hard decisions about their pitchers. I can't believe that I am saying this but the Dbacks pitching this year is the best that I have seen in the past four years so far.
If it was my decision, I would trade Zac since he will be a free agent at the end of the year and send Pfaadt to Reno to pitch as a starter and be ready to return if there is an injury.
It would do him best to be in Reno as a starter pitching every 5th game and keep him stretched out as a starter in case he needs to come back up as a starter.
TL said on the Burns & Gambo show today that sending Pfaadt to the minors is not an option since the competition in the minors isn't like the competition in the majors.
Isn't Pfaadt a 5.00 ERA pitcher and the competition in AAA would be too easy for him? How about going to the minors and having an ERA under 2.00 if the competition is so easy?