Diamondbacks Reunite With Former World Series Closer

The Diamondbacks bring back the arm that helped take them the distance in 2023.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Paul Sewald (38) celebrates after closing the game to win 4-3 against the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 26, 2024, at Chase Field in Phoenix. | Owen Ziliak/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Arizona Diamondbacks are bringing back right-hander and former closer Paul Sewald, according to a recent report from the Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro on X/Twitter.

It's a major league deal for Sewald that will be worth $1.5 million, pending a physical.

Sewald, 35, is a familiar face to the D-backs. Arizona traded for the right-hander back in the 2023 season at the deadline to become their closer. Sewald's presence locking down the ninth inning on that roster was instrumental in the D-backs' march to the World Series.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Bring Back Paul Sewald

Jul 24, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Paul Sewald (38) delivers a pitch against the Kansas City Royals in the ninth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Though Sewald had an extremely successful back half of 2023 and beginning to 2024, he entered a steep decline midway through the 2024 season, blowing three saves in a row and four out of nine.

He was eventually relegated to lower-leverage duties, and finished his final season in Arizona with a 4.31 ERA. Following that, he spent time with the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers in 2025, though no longer serving as a leverage arm.

Sewald posted a 4.58 ERA over just 19.2 major league innings for those two clubs, spending the majority of that season on the injured list as a result of two separate shoulder strains.

It's worth noting that Sewald's fastball velocity — which never climbed much higher than 93 MPH to begin with — was down all the way to an average of 90.4 MPH in 2025. That could simply have been the result of the multiple shoulder injuries, but it certainly led to a loss of effectiveness.

The Diamondbacks had entered 2026 without a clear idea of who would pitch leverage innings, with both closer options down on the IL recovering from Tommy John Surgery.

After Andrew Saalfrank's season was lost to shoulder surgery, Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel were the only healthy arms with significant leverage experience. Sewald may not still be in his 2023 postseason form any longer, but he is a veteran with plenty of innings logged in the back end.

It's unknown if Sewald is going to challenge for the closer role this spring, but GM Mike Hazen did recently acknowledge manager Torey Lovullo's desire to have a closer set, when possible.

"I know that he's going to probably want to have a closer by the end of spring training," Hazen said. "We've kind of said that seems to be when we've had our best runs from a bullpen standpoint,so I'm sure that's still going to hold."

Lovullo appeared to be on the same page as Arizona's GM.

"I've said it to Mike and inside of my office. I work the game backwards. I go from the ninth inning and start piecing it together backwards. I know some of the moves I make don't work out, but I feel like I have a strategy in the third inning... I'm projecting the game in advance, and it's just nice to know that you have somebody that can lock down the ninth inning."