Former Knight Pfaadt one step away from 'The Show' after promotion to Triple-A
Brandon Pfaadt took another big step in his journey to becoming a big-league pitcher.
On Tuesday, the Arizona Diamondbacks announced that the former Bellarmine University righthander had been promoted to the Triple-A Reno Aces from the Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles.
Pfaadt is now a single promotion away from joining the big club after rising through the ranks after being selected in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft. He is the fourth-rated prospect in the Diamondbacks' organization. On July 26, MLB Pipeline announced Pfaadt had cracked its list of the Top 100 prospects.
Pfaadt has been a dominant strikeout pitcher in Double-A this season, and on top of that, he's had excellent control. The Louisville native fanned 144 batters while walking only 19 over 105.1 innings pitched. That strikeout total is easily a Texas League high, and he's also the league leader in innings pitched, strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.58) and walks per 9.0 innings (1.62).
All 19 of Pfaadt's appearances for Amarillo were starts, and he carried a 6-6 record and a 4.53 ERA. The product of Trinity (Ky.) High School struck out eight or more batters in 11 of those outings, including tying a franchise high with 12 while taking a perfect game into the seventh inning June 23 against Corpus Christi.
Pfaadt pitched for Bellarmine from 2018-20. His final season with the Knights was shaping up to be special before it ended prematurely due to the coronavirus. Over five starts, he was 3-1 with a 1.38 ERA and 27 strikeouts against four walks in 26.0 innings pitched.
That lights-out start to the season came after an impressive summer in the storied Cape Cod League where Pfaadt posted a 2-1 record with a 2.81 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 32 innings pitched while limiting opposing hitters to a .171 average over nine regular-season games.
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