Arizona Diamondbacks sign key pitcher to multiyear deal extension ahead of weekend start

The Arizona Diamondbacks signed right-hander Brandon Pfaadt to a five-year, $45 million extension, placing a big, early bet on a pitcher who has yet to enjoy a breakout season.

The deal, which goes into effect next year, is guaranteed through 2030 and includes a $21 million team option for 2031. If the option is exercised it would buy out two potential seasons of free agency.

The agreement also includes a $25 million mutual option for 2032.

The deal feels like something of a gamble for the Diamondbacks, who have guaranteed significant money to a pitcher with a career 5.06 ERA in his first 1 1/2 seasons in the majors.

As Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen explained it, he was willing to roll the dice because if Pfaadt has the sort of year the club believes he might, the price tag would likely rise significantly.

“That’s exactly the calculus that you have to take,” Hazen said. “There’s risks in these things on both sides in the sense of, like, when is the right time to do it?

“If he puts together a season that we know he’s going to have, it just changes the calculus. We may still get it done, it’s just going to change some of the calculus for us.”

For Pfaadt, 26, the deal represents life-changing money. As a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft, he signed for a bonus of just $100,000. Now, he said, he expects to feel less burdened by pressures to perform.

“I think you got to think of the peace of mind that it brings,” Pfaadt said. “And now I’m able to go out there and compete every fifth day with, like I said, the peace of mind, and go out there and go do my job.”

Pfaadt said he and his wife, Ali, have been in love with Arizona since they first arrived.

“We’re just happy to be here longer and extend that stay a little longer,” he said. “We’ve loved every minute of it and just wanted to make that a little longer. … I want to be a part of this for as long as possible, that’s for sure.”

Pfaadt opened camp in a competition for the fifth starter’s job. Hazen said contract talks ratcheted up in the days after Pfaadt officially won the job.

“While there was some uncertainty around (his) role, we knew how we felt about Brandon,” Hazen said. “We felt like with the potential of where the roles may end up, we didn’t want to use that as sort of a bargaining position. We wanted the competition in spring training to sort itself out.”

Pfaadt is coming off his first full season in a major league rotation, in which he posted a 4.71 ERA in a team-high 181 2/3 innings. Certain underlying statistics suggest he pitched better than those numbers would indicate; anecdotally, it seemed that several of Pfaadt’s poorer outings could have been prevented had he had better results in a single inning or even against a single batter.

“I think young players can have bad innings at times, and I think the veteran guys find ways to minimize it a little quicker,” Hazen said. “Just like the hitters we talk about, they’re all going to still have slumps, but it’s minimizing the slumps. That’s what happens with maturity. But what we’ve seen in those flashes is very real and very much what we believe in.”

Pfaadt is the third young player to sign an extension with the Diamondbacks this year, following in the footsteps of shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (four years, $45 million) and reliever Justin Martinez (four years, $18 million).

In addition to those three, the Diamondbacks have outfielder Corbin Carroll (through 2030 with a club option for 2031) and second baseman Ketel Marte (through 2027 with a club option for 2028) under contract via extensions, and pitchers Corbin Burnes (through 2030) and Eduardo Rodriguez (through 2027) signed to long-term free-agent deals.

Hazen was asked what the Pfaadt deal might mean for the futures of right-handers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, both of whom can reach free agency after this season.

“Those things are going to work themselves out in time,” Hazen said. “I don’t know what the impact is going to be just yet. We don’t do these things to, like, block something else off or not be able to do something else.”

Pfaadt will receive a $2 million signing bonus and salaries of $3 million in 2026, $5 million in 2027, $8 million in 2028, $11 million in 2029 and $15 million in 2030. Both options come with $1 million buyouts.

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