Diamondbacks' Brandon Pfaadt Suddenly Looks Like A Different Pitcher

Another excellent night from Arizona's returning righty.

Jun 30, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt against the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt has looked nothing like his early-season self since returning from a short stint in the minor leagues. And that's a good thing.

It's no secret the young right-hander had been struggling. He held an ERA just under 6.00 as both a starting pitcher and a less-than-successful relief conversion project. Eventually, the Diamondbacks decided to send him to Triple-A to work on his craft and stretch back out as a starting pitcher.

And so far, the results of that decision have been undeniably brilliant, as was evidenced by Pfaadt's elite Monday night performance against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Diamondbacks' Brandon Pfaadt stifles Padres

Jun 3, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Pfaadt's outing was, technically, shorter than his return debut. He threw just five innings, still limited by a pitch count to a certain degree. Manager Torey Lovullo pulled Pfaadt at 72 pitches, up from 66 in his last start.

But it was certainly an even more dominant-looking start by the right-hander. Pfaadt did not allow an earned run, and did not walk a batter. He gave up four base hits, and all of them were singles.

But while he lived off soft contact in his first start, Pfaadt delivered a different genre of outing on Monday night. The righty picked racked up six strikeouts in Monday's win — an area in which he did not fill up the stat sheet last week. Pfaadt collected nine whiffs, and while his velocity was slightly down, his command looked sharp.

As a result, Pfaadt's ERA continued to lower, going from 5.40 to 4.84 after those five strong frames. He's pitched individually-strong outings numerous times in the past, but has yet to string together consistent success.

Perhaps the tweak in Pfaadt's delivery has allowed his command to improve. As pointed out following his last start, he no longer raises his hands above his head on his delivery, creating a more compact, low-variance motion.

"Brandon Pfaadt was fantastic today," manager Torey Lovullo said to D-backs.TV's Jody Jackson postgame. "Went out there, dialed it up, gave us five real good innings, got to that pitch count that we were comfortable with."

"The life of his fastball, the two-seam/sweeper combination is something that seems to really be working for him."

Pfaadt also displayed some usage of his changeup, a pitch he needs to be able to lean on against left-handed hitters.

"I love that," Lovullo said of the changeup usage. "It was a left-handed hitter he struck out on a down changeup. That's something that jumped out at me the last outing, that the changeup was in play against some left-handed hitters. It just gives him another weapon."

The Diamondbacks need as much of this as possible from Pfaadt going forward, as he's expected to be a major component of a banged-up, underperforming group of starting pitchers. It's certainly been a good start since he made his return.