Brandon Pfaadt Reached Plenty of Highs in Rookie Season
This article is part of a series of player reviews for the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a surprising and marvelous year for the team as they won 84 games to make the postseason. They advanced all the way to Game Five of the World Series before bowing out to the Texas Rangers. There are 54 players in all that had at least one at-bat or pitched at least one inning for the team this past season. They are being presented in reverse order of their aWAR (average WAR-Wins Above Replacement) produced, which is the average of Baseball Reference and Fangraphs WAR. These are their season stories.
Brandon Pfaadt had a rough rookie season, but reached new heights and unlocked his potential in the playoffs.
Jake Oliver
Brandon Pfaadt was called up on May 3rd for a game against the Texas Rangers to make his MLB debut. He was the team's number one pitching prospect, but struggled mightily in his debut. He gave up four home runs, something that would plague him for the whole season and allowed seven runs in just 4.2 innings. He continued to pitch in the rotation through May 26th, making five starts. He had a 8.37 ERA and a 7.14 FIP with eight home runs allowed in just 23.2 innings. He had struck out 18 and walked eight while allowing 22 runs. It was a miserable first month for Pfaadt.
The Diamondbacks sent him down to make some adjustments in Triple-A with the Reno Aces. One of the adjustments was switching from the first base side of the rubber to the third base side. Pfaadt came back up on June 29th to make a spot start against the Rays. He lasted just two innings and allowed seven hits, two walks, six runs, and yet another home run. However, the Diamondbacks and Pitching Coach Brent Strom continued to believe in him and sent him back to Reno with more adjustments to be made. Strom spoke on those adjustments below.
"My reasoning for doing it, from his arm slot and the way his ball moves, what I was trying to do was to create the illusion of the ball riding in on right-hand hitters that would look like a strike as it enters home plate. And then play that with the breaking ball that would then separate as it gets to about the halfway point, and then you have the changeup down under. When he was throwing from the far third base side of the rubber, the angle was such that he had to pull balls and that didn't really match up with his other pitches."
Pfaadt was recalled once again on July 22nd, which would be the last time he was called up this season. The adjustments had worked as he came up and started a run of seven straight starts with less than five runs allowed. Over his 41.1 innings, he had given up just 33 hits, 10 walks, 39 strikeouts, and only six home runs. His ERA over that span was a strong 3.48 with a FIP of 4.05.
He encountered a bit of a speed bump once again over the last month of the season. Starting with his start against the Dodgers on August 30th, in which he gave up six runs in just four innings, he would interchange between strong and weak starts. Over his final six starts, he gave up four runs or more three times and was scoreless in two others. Still, his ERA over that stretch was far better than it was his first couple of call-ups with a 5.28 ERA and 4.77 FIP.
All told, his 2+ month stint in the MLB to close off the regular season was an overall success. Across his 13 games and 12 starts, he allowed just 13 home runs in 70.1 innings, a high rate but a far cry from his previous rate, and 16 walks against 73 strikeouts. He had an ERA of 4.22 and a FIP of 4.35. It would seem that Pfaadt was starting to settle into being the Diamondbacks No. 3 starting pitcher.
Then, the playoffs came about and Brandon Pfaadt kicked into a whole new gear that the team knew he was capable of doing. Pfaadt started Game One of the NL Wild Card round against the Milwaukee Brewers.He lasted just 2.2 innings and gave up seven hits, a home run, three runs, and struck out four. It was a tough start, but it was only the beginning for the emergence of Pfaadt as a rotation leader.
Despite Manager Torey Lovullo's hesitancy to have Pfaadt face more than 18 batters, Pfaadt made those 18 batters count starting in the NLDS against the Dodgers in the series clinching Game Three start. He twirled 4.1 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits to go with his two strikeouts. Then, he fully broke out in the NLCS against the Phillies.
In Game Three, a must-win game for the D-backs who were down two games to zero in the series, Pfaadt was magnificent. He pitched 5.2 innings and allowed only two hits while striking out nine.
Pitching Coach Brent Strom had this to say about Pfaadt's emergence as a key starting pitcher with multiple weapons, including his changeup, in the NLCS. "The changeup has been a work in progress for Brandon. He found it in the Dodger game. That's going to be a key obviously to both lefties and righties. It plays to both. Again, he is going to have to do some work to -- these are not uneducated hitters. They study our tendencies and things like that. So what we need to do is be a little bit unpredictable in our times that we use the changeup and when we use our fastball or the breaking ball below the zone."
Pfaadt would carry the Diamondbacks to the World Series as he started the series-winning Game Seven in the NLCS. He spun four innings of two-run ball with two walks and seven strikeouts.
In the World Series, Brandon Pfaadt would start Game Three against the Texas Rangers. While he failed to get the win and made one bad pitch to Corey Seager, the bottom-line stats were quite good. He went 5.1 innings and gave up just four hits, three runs, two walks, and struck out four.
Overall, in the postseason, Pfaadt displayed the kind of potential that would make him a third ace of the Arizona Diamondbacks starting rotation. He went 22 innings across his five starts and allowed only eight runs with five walks and 26 strikeouts. The three home runs allowed were still a tad high, but it proved that the adjustments Strom had Pfaadt make paid off. Pfaadt was limiting walks and home runs, and striking out far more batters. It set the tone for what will be a hopefully strong and impressive sophomore campaign in 2024.
2024 Status and Outlook:
Brandon Pfaadt established himself as the Diamondbacks third starting pitcher for next year's rotation. If the D-backs acquire a starting pitcher that can slot in behind Merrill Kelly, then Pfaadt will drop down to the No.4 role in the rotation. Still, Pfaadt will be a full-time member of the Opening Day rotation in what will be his age-25 season. Pfaadt will look to decrease the amount of home runs that he allows. He'll seek to pitch deeper into games and become the workhorse starting pitcher that the Diamondbacks know he can be.
Pfaadt won't be eligible for arbitration until 2026. He isn't a free agent until 2029. One could say that Pfaadt is the D-backs lone certainty for the long-term outlook for their rotation. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are both free agents after the 2025 season. Meanwhile, Pfaadt is locked into being a member that will hopefully step into an ace-like role for Arizona. While it remains to be seen if Pfaadt can continue his ace-like production from the playoffs, his outlook remains quite good.
