Arizona Diamondbacks 2024 Player Review: Brandon Pfaadt

The young right-hander was the sturdy bulwark of the rotation as he pitched deep into games and made every start

Sep 24, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt (32) throws against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images / Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

This article is part of a series chronicling the individual seasons of players who appeared for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024.

Reviews for players who still have rookie eligibility for 2025 will appear in our prospect season reviews. Players are presented in the reverse order of their aWAR, an average of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs WAR.

Brandon Pfaadt, Right-Handed Starting Pitcher, Age: 26

2024 Contract Status: Pre arbitration $754.4k

Brandon Pfaadt 2024 stats and career stats while with the Arizona Diamondbacks / Jake

Brandon Pfaadt was drafted by the Diamondbacks in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft with pick number 149. He quickly rose through the ranks of the minor leagues and became the team's top pitching prospect by the 2023 season.

After making his debut in 2023 and experiencing the playoffs, Pfaadt had his first full season in the Big Leagues in 2024 after entering Spring Training guaranteed of a roster spot.

Pfaadt was the workhorse rotation member this season as he made all 32 of his starts and never missed a game. He pitched 181.2 innings and went six or more innings in 19 of those starts as he was the most reliable innings eater on the team.

Despite a lackluster ERA of 4.71, Pfaadt appeared to have pitched far better than what that number shows. His FIP was a strong 3.61 indicating Pfaadt might've had some bad luck. Similarly, his xERA was 3.75 and his xFIP was 3.58.

The results didn't show how good Pfaadt pitched this year as he racked up 185 strikeouts and just 42 walks. He solved his home run problem by giving up just 24 of them this year in nearly twice the innings of last year when he gave up 22 in 96 innings.

Pfaadt was often able to limit the damage in starts this year despite often having a "slippery inning" as Manager Torey Lovullo often spoke about.

He gave up three or fewer runs in 18 of his starts and had a quality start in 12 starts.

Pfaadt excelled against right-handed batters as he limited them to a batting average of just .224 and an OPS of .635. This was due to his sweeper diving away from their bats. However, in order to keep improving, Pfaadt must figure out how to get left-handed hitters out.

Lefties hit .294 against him and had an OPS of .811. If he wants to take the next step next year, he will have to find a way to limit the contact and power against left-handers.

Pfaadt's season could be broken up into three chunks, the first three months, an excellent six weeks, and a sluggish final stretch.

From Opening Day to June 7, Pfaadt intermixed strong starts with those slippery innings that got away from him. Despite limiting hits and homers, he had a 4.60 ERA and 3.54 FIP over his first 78.1 innings. The team was 5-8 in those starts.

Yet, something clicked for Pfaadt on June 13 and that began a sparkling run of 10 straight starts in which Pfaadt nearly dominated the whole time. He gave up three of fewer runs in eight of those starts and had six quality starts. The team went 8-2 and he went 4-1.

Over those 59.1 innings, Pfaadt recorded a 3.03 ERA and 3.57 FIP with 50 hits given up, 14 walks, 48 strikeouts, and just six home runs allowed. Pfaadt showcased the massive potential he has and how good he can be when he's working on all cylinders.

Unfortunately for Pfaadt and the Diamondbacks, he faltered in the stretch run of the season over his final nine starts and 44 innings. In what was shaping to be a career-high in starts and innings, it had appeared that Pfaadt was just getting tired.

His velocity on pitches was trending downward, his face was getting flush quicker, and it seemed as if the arm was getting sluggish quicker during games, but that was to be expected considering the heavy workload Pfaadt had worked to that point.

It was his first full MLB season and that takes a toll on every rookie starting pitcher in the final third of the season. Many pitchers experience a tough ending to their rookie year.

Over his final nine starts, Pfaadt had a 7.16 ERA despite a 3.78 FIP due to 59 hits, 35 runs, 13 walks, and 61 strikeouts. He allowed eight homers and opponents hit .321 against him as his pitches were finding the middle of the zone far too often.

While that was the game plan for him to attack the zone relentlessly, he often would land too many in the heart of the zone without being able to induce chase outside the zone to get weak contact or strikeouts.

There was one major highlight though in his final third of the season when he pitched seven innings of one-run ball against the Brewers and struck out a career-high 12 as he put the team on his back that game to help them in their chase for the playoffs.

Pfaadt had major WAR differences between Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs due to the split between his advanced stats and his ERA. Despite that, the bright side is that nearly all his metrics moved in the right direction for his future and he limited walks in a big way, a good sign for future performance.

2025 and Beyond

2025 Contract status: Second Year Pre Arbitration, Est. $790 K

Brandon Pfaadt is under club control for the next five seasons provided he spends no time in the minors. With that said, he will once again make close to the league minimum salary next year in what will be his second full season in the Majors.

He should occupy a spot in the starting rotation depending upon what the D-backs do in the off-season and that he has a successful Spring Training. The D-backs are rumored to be open to dealing a starting pitcher plus there's always a chance they add a pitcher. Pfaadt was rated as having the highest trade value among D-backs starting pitchers by Jack Sommers.

Still, Pfaadt should assume his role as the No.4 in the rotation and there are plenty of signs for him to rebound. He had a career-low Left on Base% at 64.5% so there should be positive regression there. He increased his ground ball rate by over 8% to 41.5%, decreased his home run per fly ball rate by 5% to 11.8%, and all the advanced stats beyond ERA said he pitched far better than the results showed.

One key to his future progress would be further development of his curveball to combat left-hand batters. The change up was good overall, with a .255 wOBA against and a 31% WHIFF rate. But the curveball numbers were very poor, however. He gave up a .429 BA with a .571 slugging against on the curve. He'll need that second weapon against lefites to take the next steps.

Pfaadt should be a strong starting pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks as he enters his age-26 season and continues to develop with more time in the Majors.