Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt is continuing to hone in on his craft during his fifth spring training with the club, but an aggressive adage from his manager is providing some extra juice.
“One of the interesting things (Torey Lovullo) told us was when we’re on defense, we’re on offense,” Pfaadt said Tuesday on Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke. “I think that kind of stood out to me, and spring training is a perfect time to work on those things.
“More the pitcher than anybody else, especially in that situation, is knowing that you’re on the offensive side of the ball and knowing that you’re going to be aggressive towards the hitter and give him everything you got. I think it’s the ultimate game plan.”
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The 27-year-old hasn’t been shy with his stuff around the strike zone since reaching the major leagues in 2023, where he made a serious splash in the postseason.
However, Pfaadt experienced a drop-off in 2025, with his 4.8% walk rate being in the top 5% of all MLB pitchers. His ERA also rose more than half a point to 5.25 while his strikeout rate fell nearly five percentage points to 19.2%.
The former 2020 fifth-round draft pick by Arizona said he was hard on himself following a disappointing individual and team campaign, but Pfaadt has since dipped into the well of positives.
“When I went and looked back at it, there was a lot of good in last year, a lot of good outings,” Pfaadt said. “Some of the outings that didn’t go as planned, I learned a lot from those and that’s kind of where I’m taking my head into this year.”
He made his Cactus League debut last Wednesday and threw 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball against the Athletics.
His goal? “I think just being aggressive, and we did that,” Pfaadt told reporters.
The right-hander only had to toss more than two pitches on four of the nine batters he faced, and Pfaadt induced a lot of weak contact, six of his seven outs coming via groundouts or flyouts. Pfaadt’s lone walk issued came after he started the batter off with a 3-0 count.
The pitcher peppered the zone, with 18 of his 25 pitches inside of it. Due to this clear preference of being in the zone, Pfaadt can be hurt without a strong whiff rate, as was the case last season at 22.1% (23rd percentile in MLB), according to Baseball Savant.
The odd other half of the coin is that the 6-foot-4 player caused batters to chase 30% of the time in 2025, which ranked in the 74th percentile.
It all comes down to tightening things up, rather than hoping the cards fall another way this year, Pfaadt said.
“I think just being consistent, going out there and knowing I have the ability to go out there and do my job,” Pfaadt said. “Some of the games I’ve showcased some greatness and some bumps in the road. So, I think just evening those out, kind of meeting in the middle.”
Like 2025, Pfaadt showcased a six-pitch arsenal in a very small sample size, even going through five types in his final batter of his first spring outing.
Pfaadt said he specifically wants to use his cutter, which he implemented for the 2025 season, more often while “tightening up” the slider, outside of general year-over-year improvement across his whole repertoire.
He’s logged at least four appearances in the past three spring camps, so he should have a couple more chances on the mound to affirm or alter his pitching depth in the remaining 15 games leading up to Opening Day on March 26.
Brandon Pfaadt likes Diamondbacks ‘flying under the radar’
If the 2023 postseason told MLB fans anything, it’s that a confident club is a dangerous one, and the Diamondbacks were proof.
Pfaadt, who thrived in his first real crack at the MLB playoffs, doesn’t have to be reminded of that and said he welcomes the underdog role once again. Submarine-style reliever Ryan Thompson, another member of the group that created some expected chaos, shares the same mentality.
“We take that mindset that we had for that month and take it in and roll with it throughout the year,” Pfaadt said. “I think it could be a very special year.”
With Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly returning on respective deals, Paul Sewald coming back late in the offseason and other core pitching pieces still rostered, the staff isn’t so different from the one that manufactured a trip to the franchise’s second World Series. A clear difference is the amount of youth now available and already battle-tested, something Pfaadt believes Arizona will benefit from.
“Some younger guys had to step up and we obviously acquired a lot of guys via trades. So, I think now we’re in an even better spot with those guys that we got,” Pfaadt said.
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