Newly-Extended Brandon Pfaadt to Make Season Debut vs Cubs

The D-backs' recently-extended young right-hander will get his first start of the regular season.

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt (32) reacts after walking San Francisco Giants Patrick Bailey (14) in the third inning at Chase Field in Phoenix on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. | Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On Saturday, the Arizona Diamondbacks will take on the Chicago Cubs at Chase Field for the third game of a four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 p.m.

The Diamondbacks got back to their high-powered winning ways in an 8-1 victory over Chicago on Friday night — a game that featured excellent pitching and two Eugenio Suárez home runs.

Saturday will offer the D-backs a chance to get above .500 early in the season behind one of their newly extended core players.

Pitching Matchup: RHP Brandon Pfaadt vs LHP Shota Imanaga

Young right-hander Brandon Pfaadt was the center of Friday's news cycle, as the Diamondbacks announced a five-year extension to keep him in their major league rotation for years to come.

The deal is for $45 million guaranteed through 2030, with two options in 2031 and 2032. Barring injury or severe lack of performance, Pfaadt figures to be a staple of Arizona's young core for the foreseeable future.

Pfaadt's 2024 season was a solid one, though his raw results might not have looked too impressive. However, he did throw a career-high 181.2 innings, striking out 185 batters. His deep arsenal and high movement profile will likely only continue to improve as long as he can command his pitches.

He recorded a 4.71 ERA this past season, but that was undermined by a staggering 1.10 run difference in his FIP (3.61) and 0.93 run difference in expected ERA (3.78). Pfaadt enjoyed a quality Spring Training, where he struck out 14 batters over 15 innings, and even tossed a five-inning shutout in a Cactus League game.

Across from Pfaadt will be left-hander Shota Imanaga. Imanaga came over to Chicago from Japan ahead of the 2024 season and had an excellent "rookie" campaign. Over 173.1 innings in 29 starts, Imanaga threw to a 2.91 ERA and struck out 174.

He's made one start so far in — tossing four shutout innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo.

Imanaga has a good blend of soft contact and swing-and-miss, primarily relying on three pitches. His low-90s fastball and splitter have made up most of his pitches thrown, but he also has a sweeper, with a slider and curve in his back pocket.

The Diamondbacks have made plenty of loud contact in the past two games, even when the runs weren't coming across. Imanaga can surrender some hard-hit balls on occasion, but it's best to strike early to avoid falling victim to his breaking balls.

Lineups

Lineups | Alex D'Agostino

The Diamondbacks' lineup looks as it likely will often this season against left-handed pitching. Lefty-killing Randal Grichuk will get the start at DH.

Gabriel Moreno returns to his regular starting spot at catcher. In Friday's game, Torey Lovullo opted to go with Jose Herrera.

Moreno's standard workload off day would have likely been Saturday or Sunday, but since he is a career .329/.372/.460 against left-hand pitching — and the D-backs are likely to face southpaws on both Saturday and Sunday — Lovullo decided to give Moreno an early day off Friday.

Corbin Carroll has just one hit so far this season, but he hammered a pair of balls in Friday's game, including a career-high 115.7 MPH liner that Kyle Tucker unfortunately caught. Though an 0-for-4 night is less than ideal, it's a better problem to have than what Carroll struggled with to open 2024.

The Cubs' lineup doesn't look drastically different, but second baseman Nico Hoerner will get the day off in favor of Jon Berti. Young third baseman Gage Workman will get his first start of the 2025 season.

It's an otherwise even balance of right- and left-handed bats for Craig Counsell's offense. Pfaadt will have his work cut out for him and must prevent the speedy and pesky Pete Crow-Armstrong from getting on and causing chaos on the bases.

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