Corbin Carroll, Brandon Pfaadt named Arizona’s Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year

Carroll and Pfaadt had very exceptional seasons for the Diamondbacks top two minor league affiliates.

© Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Diamondbacks have announced their Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year, with outfielder Corbin Carroll and Brandon Pfaadt receiving the honors. Both players are in our Top 10 ranking of the organization's prospects, ranking first and fifth overall. Both players were honored before the game. 

Carroll, 22, is the consensus top prospect in the organization due to his ability to impact games in multiple ways. He ranks first amongst all MLB players on Statcast's Sprint Speed and home-to-first time. Between AA Amarillo and AAA Reno, Carroll hit .307/.425/.611 in 442 plate appearances. He was also named USA Today's Minor League Player of the Year earlier this week.

Yesterday D-backs manager Torey Lovullo praised Carroll's focus, determination, and work ethic, which was put on display last year when he missed almost all of the year with a gruesome shoulder injury. Despite not being able to play, he spent his time sitting with the scouts at the ballpark and took all the mental reps he could against big league pitchers. Carroll should be one of the top contenders for National League Rookie of the Year in 2023.

Pfaadt, 23, leads the Minor Leagues in both innings pitched and strikeouts. His 218 strikeouts are the most in the minors since Brandon Claussen had 220 back in 2001. Pfaadt is 11-7 with a 3.83 ERA and a 218/33 strikeout to walk ratio in 167 innings between AA Amarillo and AAA Reno. Considering the difficult run environments in both the Texas League Southern Division and the Pacific Coast League, his run prevention has been exceptional.

Here is a leaderboard of the most strikeouts in a Minor League season since 2002

Fangraphs

When asked how he felt about winning the award, Pfaadt said "It's awesome. There were a lot of pitchers that could have won it this year, a lot of guys had really good years whether it was their first year or third year. I'm honored to be chosen and to have the year I had". 

His mindset for pitching in both Amarillo and Reno was "staying aggressive, regardless of what the ballpark conditions are. Just pitching your game and at the end of the day, not basing it on results and just going out and attacking the zone". 

On leading the minors in strikeouts, Pfaadt said it was important for him to get to two strikes and expand the zone, as previously in his career he felt he was leaving too many pitches in the zone in two-strike counts. 

Pfaadt has the potential to be a workhorse starter in the middle of the D-backs rotation, and could potentially debut early next season. He has the full pitch mix, but his key offerings are a mid 90s fastball, a two-plane slider in the mid 80s, and a fading changeup. All three pitches are swing-and-miss offerings when he gets ahead of hitters. He utilizes a curveball early in counts to steal strikes or bouncing it in the dirt for chases.