Brandon Pfaadt, who struck out more batters than any minor leaguer in 20 years, is the Arizona Diamondbacks’ minor league pitcher of the year.
Right-handers Ryne Nelson and Drey Jameson have made good first impressions as major-league starters, and left-hander Tommy Henry has had spurts of success. But many believe the Diamondbacks’ best young arm has yet to arrive — well, officially, that is.
“Just staying aggressive regardless of what the ballpark conditions are, just pitching your game,” Pfaadt said when asked about his keys to the season. “At the end of the day, not basing it on results, just going out and attacking the zone and trusting your ability.” “There for a little bit I was throwing too many strikes,” he said. “It seems like a good thing, but at higher levels it’s not a good thing, especially with two strikes. We tried to keep honing in on at leaving the zone with two strikes. I think that helped get more strikeouts.”
“In Amarillo, you can give up four home runs and it’s still a good game,” he said. “Just learning that last year at the end, because that’s kind of what happened, and then coming back this year and knowing the lessons I learned the year prior, and bringing it all together, that’s kind of what benefitted me the most.”