Patrick Forbes Development Back on Track for the Diamondbacks

Overcoming injury and flashing new weapons, Forbes impresses in his Arizona Fall League debut

Patrick Forbes at Salt River Fields October 9, 2026 | Jack Sommers, Arizona Diamondbacks ON SI

As Diamondbacks lanky right-hander Patrick Forbes threw his warmup pitches prior to his first Arizona Fall League outing, one could get a sense that he was about to showcase some impressive stuff. Taken in the first round of the 2025 draft, 29th overall, this was the first good look at the Louisville product under controlled, Statcast conditions.

An Impressive Outing in the Arizona Fall League

A scout has his radar gun ready. The American Legion All-Star Showcase at Adams Field in Quincy had players from all over the state playing on Monday, July 7, 2025. Legion Baseball is celebrating its 100th season this summer. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Forbes outing began in front of a bevy of scouts by retiring the first three batters on two groundouts and a pop out on just 13 pitches. He was sitting 95-97 with the four-seam fastball. But it's not the fastball he was here to work on.

During media day a week prior Forbes said he was "using the fall league as an opportunity to work on some of the secondaries, working on a sweeper, change up, and then I have a pretty good cutter"

Forbes Flashes Impressive Stuff in First Fall League Outing

Asked how he felt, Forbes acknowledged the tough conditions. "It's a hot day, but it's great to be out here. It's a great opportunity, faced a lot of great hitters. I felt good overall. I would have liked more first pitch strikes. I think that's one of my big focuses, and it makes pitching a lot easier. So I think that'll be the focus for my next start."

Forbes threw 49 pitches, 28 for strikes. He was only two of 10 in first pitch strikes, so it's certainly an area to work on.

That sweeper was impressive though. He landed six out of 17 for called strikes, freezing hitters, and got swing and miss on two others. The horizontal break ranged between 10 and 17 inches, a wide spread to be sure. The velocity averaged 83, also providing plenty of timing challenges for hitters sitting fastball.

"[The sweeper] felt good" Forbes said. It was my second time throwing it to actual hitters in a game setting. We made a tweak after the minor league season was over. I'm liking it so far. It's getting a lot more break on it, which is good"

Diamondbacks Director of Player Development Chris Slivka was on hand to view the outing, and spoke afterwards about the Sweeper as well.

"He's been working on widening out the slider toward the sweeper and showing some good strides early on. He was landing it in the zone early and already showing some feel to manipulate that pitch, which is really encouraging" Slivka said.

Forbes ran into a little bit of trouble in the second inning with his efficiency, needing 22 pitches to record two outs. He was also robbed of an out by the new outfield positioning that MLB is testing out in the fall league.

What would normally be a fly ball out in the right center field gap was turned into a double due to the outfielder being forced to play shallow and by the line by the rules being used at Salt River.

Forbes was pulled with two outs in the inning, but re-entered the game, coming back out for the third. He worked around a hit by pitch (on a sweeper) to record a 3-6-3 inning ending double play, (also on a sweeper).

Slivka expounded a bit more on how he was evaluating Forbes' execution on the sweeper.

"I think he's still trying to learn that a little bit, but just showing the ability to enter the zone early and then exit the zone in those two strike counts is probably more so where I'm at with that. I do feel like he has some hand talent, but he's a little bit underdeveloped.

"He hasn't really had the repetitions in season that we would have liked to see. But being able to widen out that pitch and create more space between that and his cutter, it was really good for him early on" Slivka said.

Injury Issues Limited Forbes Development in 2026

Forbes was sidelined in spring training with a Flexor strain Slivka said. He wasn't able to make his season debut until May 27. After 14 effective innings across six outings, Forbes missed another five weeks between June 27 and July 31 due to the same issue.

He was quite effective when he did pitch, however, posting a 2.73 ERA in 30 innings with 41 strikeouts and just seven walks. Those 30 innings came in 11 outings, as he averaged less three innings and just 10 batters faced per game.

Forbes said his target innings pitched for the Fall League was about 20, and Slivka confirmed that. He said that Forbes is built up to be able to throw four innings and they'd like to see him get to 20 innings over five or six outings.

The question was asked if the Diamondbacks view Forbes as a starter or reliever long term. After pointing out this is Forbes first full season since being drafted, Slivka was emphatic in stating how they view Forbes.

"It's way too early to have those conversations. [about moving him to the bullpen] We fully believe he's a starter. He shows all the characteristics you want to see out of a starter. He has really good fastball quality. That gives us optimism that we're going to be able to build out the repertoire to a 5-6 pitch mix eventually" Slivka said.

Asked if he thought Forbes could be a fast mover through the system, Slivka said "We'll let Patrick tell us if he's going to be a fast mover."

Demetrio Crisantes Shines in Slugfest

Arizona Diamondbacks infield prospect Demetrio Crisantes poses for a picture prior to the Spring Breakout game against the Kansas City Royals prospect at Salt River Fields, March 14, 2025 | Jack Sommers

As for the game itself, the Salt River Rafters defeated the Desert Dogs 13-9, rapping out 16 hits. D-backs number one prospect Demterio Crisantes continued his hot hitting, going four-for-five with a double, three singles, three runs scored and three RBI. He's now batting .471 with a 1.206 OPS.

The Rafters will play in front of a home town crowd for Crisantes in Tucson on Saturday afternoon at at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium. The first game of a double header starts at 11:30 and the Rafters will face the Scottsdale Scorpions 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.