Who is Brandon Pfaadt? Top Diamondbacks pitching prospect set for MLB debut

The Arizona Diamondbacks are promoting one of their top prospects to make his major league debut. Brandon Pfaadt is set to pitch against the AL West-leading Texas Rangers. He is their third overall prospect and MLB's 51st-ranked prospect.

Pfaadt was selected in the fifth round of the 2020 draft and has shot up Arizona's prospect list. They have surprised the world by going 16-14 to start the season. They'd be a playoff team and only trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by 1.5 games.

He had an excellent season last year, leading all Minor Leaguers with 218 strikeouts over 167 innings. This was in both Double-A and Triple-A. This was the most Minor League strikeouts over a single season since 2001 when Brandon Claussen recorded 220 strikeouts.

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Brandon Pfaadt set to make Major League debut

Brandon Pfaadt features four pitches: a four-seam fastball, a devastating slider, a nasty changeup and a slow curveball. He uses these effectively to make hitters swing and miss.

Brandon Pfaadt joins Zac Gallen in the rotation

MLB.com's Sam Dykstra said:

"The D-backs have a bona fide ace in Zac Gallen and another solid rotation option in Merrill Kelly, but now with the long-ineffective Madison Bumgarner out of the picture, the club needs a reliable No. 3 starter.

"Based on his results and quality of stuff over the last two seasons, Pfaadt could assume that role quickly beginning Wednesday, and in the process, give Arizona another big push back toward the postseason for the first time since 2017."

If the Diamondbacks were floundering, they might not be interested in calling Pfaadt up. They're not, which makes this an interesting season for the club.