There is alot to love about the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are a fun and electric team to watch and once again have a top ten offense in baseball. You have to love what you’re seeing from guys like Corbin Carroll, Josh Naylor, and Pavin Smith to begin the year. What’s been more intriguing is the pitching side of things.

Before the year began, my boldest pick was that the Diamondbacks could finish the year with a top five ERA in baseball. Their rotation is very well put together, but not all the results have been there. While a lot of the stock and attention is poured into Corbin Burnes, a player like Brandon Pfaadt has been super important to this rotation and deserves all the praise.

Brandon Pfaadt Deserves His Flowers

There were plenty of moves that the front office has made this winter that have been ruled as good moves. Bringing in Naylor to replace Christian Walker was good. Signing Corbin Burnes was in fact good. But locking up pieces for the long term is what’s the story here.

They inked Justin Martinez (5 years, $18 million) to help anchor the back of the bullpen for the foreseeable future. They gave Ketel Marte a new and deserved contract (7 years, $116 million)  after the way he performed during the 2024 season. Locking up Pfaadt (5 years, $45 million) was smart. He is a player that has shown growth and promise in his game and all the tools are there that this contract will be worth it in the end.

He is seeing growth from just last season alone and is doing alot of good things on the mound. Pfaadt has shown impeccable command with the baseball, ranking in the 85th percentile for his walk rate. His ERA is currently 3.28, which is significantly down from last season (4.79) and the WHIP has stayed relatively the same. His strikeout rate is slightly down, but he’s taking the ball and getting the job done. His ability to get batters to chase has gone way up and he is getting batters to swing at the first pitch more than a year ago. Getting ahead of counts is important and he is doing that.

There are flaws that go along with this and something he will want to work on. Pfaadt is allowing a lot of hard contact. In fact, his sweeper is getting slugged against harder than its expected rate. His velocity has seen it go down just a tick, but nothing egregious. At the end of the day, Pffadt has been just as valuable as anyone else on this pitching staff and one of the best pitchers in the National League .

This is where he deserves his flowers, because there are a lot of stellar pitches in the National League. Pfaadt has the most wins in the National League (6) and has made the second most quality starts (5).

He has been every bit as good as the extension could look right out the gate. His 0.3 WAR is tied for the second best on the Diamondbacks staff. Not bad for the 26 year old and certainly has been worth it this season.

He’s a pitcher that’s been able to take the ball and that’s all you can ask for.