Diamondbacks To Hire New Pitching Coach Away From Padres

The Arizona Diamondbacks have reportedly settled on their newest pitching coach, and he's from one of their NL West rivals.

The Diamondbacks made a somewhat surprising decision to part ways with previous pitching coach Brian Kaplan — who was from the Philadelphia Phillies organization — this offseason, despite an uptick in pitching results over the course of the 2026 season.

And according to a new report from The Athletic's Dennis Lin, Arizona is expected to hire Padres bullpen coach Ben Fritz as their new pitching coach.

Additionally, per Nick Piecoro of AZCentral, the Diamondbacks will hold on to both assistant pitching coach Owen Dew and bullpen coach Wellington Cepeda in their current positions.

Diamondbacks to hire Ben Fritz as pitching coach

May 20, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; San Diego Padres bullpen coach Ben Fritz (53) before the game. — May 20, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; San Diego Padres bullpen coach Ben Fritz (53) before the game against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

Fritz, 45, had a brief minor league playing career. He was drafted by the Athletics in 2002 and joined the Padres' organization in the 2015 season at the minor league level. He spent parts of seven seasons in and out of organizations, though he did not play at the MLB level.

Fritz was hired by the Padres in 2015 at the minor league level; he has been the Padres' bullpen coach since his promotion ahead of the 2020 season and was briefly San Diego's interim pitching coach following the firing of Larry Rothschild in 2021.

He has never served as lead pitching coach for a major league organization outside of that interim stint, however.

But the Padres' bullpen results have been undeniable. San Diego, though certainly loaded with talent, finished fifth in bullpen ERA (3.53) during the 2026 season. The Padres have never ranked worse than 14th in baseball during Fritz's tenure, and were the top relief group in the majors during 2025.

Whether or not that same type of output can make its way to Arizona remains to be seen.

Certainly, the Diamondbacks were able to engineer a bit of a relief turnaround in 2026, but they've generally struggled with both rotation and bullpen results under GM Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo.

Arizona held the 18th-best team ERA (4.18) in 2026, alongside the 16th-ranked bullpen (4.07) and 19th-best rotation (4.28). Though nothing exceptional, it was an improvement from their abysmal results in the previous two seasons.

The D-backs' pitching staff, however, is a bit uncertain moving forward. They'll likely have to add a starting pitcher, even after Corbin Burnes made the decision to opt in to the remainder of his deal.

Meanwhile, their resurgent bullpen just saw multiple key contributors become free agents.

But Arizona now has its lead pitching coach.

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