Brandon Pfaadt to Make Cactus League Debut vs Reds

The Diamondbacks' young righty will get his first start of the spring.

Feb 19, 2025; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt (32) poses for a portrait for MLB Media Day at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-Imagn Images / Allan Henry-Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks will travel to Goodyear on Thursday to take on the Cincinnati Reds, following a dominant 7-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.

Thursday's game will commence at 1:05 p.m. Arizona time. The game will not be televised, nor broadcast by D-backs radio.

Taking the mound for the D-backs in Thursday's game will be young right-hander Brandon Pfaadt. Pfaadt will get his first start of the Cactus League, and look to begin ramping up for the 2025 season.

In 2024, Pfaadt was the anchor of Arizona's rotation, pitching a career-high 181.2 innings over 32 starts. While his 4.71 ERA is a bit unsightly, that number was undermined by an extremely solid group of peripherals. Though his raw results were poor, he sported a 3.61 FIP, 3.78 xERA and 3.58 xFIP.

Across from Pfaadt will be Reds' major league starter Graham Ashcraft. Ashcraft pitched to a 5.24 ERA over 77.1 innings in 15 starts in 2024. He relies mainly on a hard 96 MPH cutter, with an 88 MPH slider and hard sinker to go with it.

He also throws the occasional changeup and four-seam, but those only accounted for a total of 4% of his pitches thrown in 2024. So far, Ashcraft has made one Cactus League start, in which he tossed two scoreless innings.

D-backs fans will get a good look at some of Arizona's other arms as well, with RHP Yilber Díaz and RHP Ryan Thompson also expected to get into game action.

Other probables include RHP Jeff Brigham, RHP Kyle Amendt, LHP Kyle Backhus and RHP Connor Grammes.

Lineups

Lineups / Alex D'Agostino | Diamondbacks On SI

The Diamondbacks' lineup features a few regular starters, with a Grichuk-Thomas-McCarthy outfield aligment. Corbin Carroll continues his every-other-day workload, and gets the day off after a dominant outing on Wednesday, where he went 2-for-2 with a grand slam and two stolen bases.

Geraldo Perdomo will man shortstop, but the rest of the lineup features three players who are in the midst of a battle for the open utility role in Ildemaro Vargas, Grae Kessinger and Garrett Hampson, though Vargas will DH rather than play the field.

The Reds' lineup looks very much like their regular season lineup, featuring rising stars in second baseman Matt McLain and shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who has already homered twice this spring.

Stay tuned to Diamondbacks On SI for continuous up-to-the-minute Spring Training coverage.