Two months into the season, the Diamondbacks are seeing encouraging signs on the pitching front throughout their organization, though they are careful to say the overhaul of their pitching development remains a work in progress.
The Diamondbacks’ farm system, which ranked among the worst in the majors in a variety of pitching categories, has made strides in several areas. Among them, according to a source with access to minor-league data (stats through Thursday, June 5):
– Their pitchers’ walk rate, at all minor league levels, has gone from 12.8% (30th in the majors) to 11.6% (sixth).
– Their strikeout rate has gone from 21.2% (30th) to 23.8% (22nd).
– Their strike percentage has improved from 59.8% (30th) to 61.5% (11th).
– Their first-pitch strike percentage has gone from 56.2% (30th) to 58.1% (13th).
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– Their in-zone rate has jumped from 46.5% (27th) to 49.5% (fifth).
– Their average velocity on four-seam fastballs has gone from 92.2 mph (25th) to 93.2 mph (seventh).
“It’s good to see progress, but it’s too early to necessarily say what the long-term progress is going to be in that area,” D-backs general manager Mike Hazen said. “It’s going to take some time.”
Hazen said some of the improvements can be traced to philosophical changes and processes implemented by Jeremy Bleich, the club’s new assistant general manager, who was hired in December to revamp the team’s pitching infrastructure.
Others likely are connected to acquisitions the team made over the previous 11 months. They made a series of deals at the trade deadline last July in which they targeted pitching in return. They acquired two more power arms in prospect Wellington Aracena and reliever Kade Strowd in the Blaze Alexander trade in February.
They also used draft capital last July to select pitchers Patrick Forbes (first round), Brian Curley (third round) and Dean Livingston (fourth round).
Hazen said Bleich has made a “major impact” on improving strike-throwing from a mentality standpoint. He said the club's changes to add velocity are still taking shape.
“We’re obviously trying to build the engines of our pitchers safely, engines that can drive higher average velocities and I think they’re doing a good job of that,” Hazen said. “We undertook some process changes with regard to how conditioning happens, how we’re training, throwing programs, all that stuff. That’s the stuff that I want to see play out over time. The fact that it’s showing some uptick is certainly encouraging.”
Arizona moved forward with major changes last offseason after enduring another year in which subpar pitching played a significant role in them missing the playoffs. The club has been far better at developing position players than pitchers throughout the club's history.
Among the early-season standouts in some of the categories listed above:
– Double-A Amarillo right-hander Ashton Izzi has improved his first-pitch strike percentage from 58.2% last year to 63.8% this year and his in-zone rate from 51.9% to 57.7%.
– Curley, pitching in High-A, has just a 6.2% walk rate. He had a 10% walk rate last year at Georgia.
– High-A right-hander Junior Sanchez and Double-A right-handers Jose Cabrera and Josh Grosz have seen big jumps in their strikeout rates. Sanchez has gone from 20.5% to 35%, Cabrera from 19.8% to 28.5% and Grosz from 25.2% to 33.8%.
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Drey Jameson (99) throws to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second inning on Feb. 25, 2026, at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale.
– Triple-A Reno right-hander Yilber Diaz has improved his strike percentage from 51.7% to 60.2%. Right-hander Drey Jameson made a jump in the same category in Reno, going from 63.6% to 67.4%.
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