Introduction
Over the last few weeks, we’ve gone over the D-Backs top prospects, focusing exclusively on the hitters in the farm system. This week we turn our focus to the pitchers in the Arizona farm system, beginning with a few honorable mentions that didn’t make it into the top 15 for whatever reason.
Pitching Development Isn’t an Organizational Strength
The D-backs have had a decent amount of success as far as developing position players goes, but when it comes to developing starting pitching, they have had very few successes in the team’s 30 years. If you’re
excluding pitchers who didn’t begin their professional career, or those that broke out only after being traded away, there are even fewer. As much as it pains me to say, the D-Backs are one of the worst teams at developing pitching, and there really aren’t many pitchers in the system that look elite starting pitchers, at least as far as I can tell.
Ranking the Diamondbacks pitching prospects feels like a futile endeavor that borders on masochism, especially since there’s essentially no consensus in ranking. In addition to looking at the rankings of various publications, I reached out to some of my fellow SnakePit writers and alumni who know prospects, and there were very few rankings in common, though there are definitely some pitchers more highly regarded than others. As far as my process for rankings goes, if I am presented with two players that are similar in terms of tools and stuff, I’m going to favor the player who is actually having success over the player who only has the potential for success. Starting pitchers will always be ranked more favorably than relief pitchers, especially single inning relief pitchers. The level of confidence in a prospect’s ability to stick as a starting pitcher is one major source of the discrepancy between rankings, so if you’re wondering why I might favor a pitcher more than someone else does, that’s probably why.
The Players Who Could Have Made The Cut
You’ll find Patrick Forbes on nearly every major publication’s top prospect list for the Diamondbacks, but you won’t find him with a ranking on mine. I have a hard time ranking a pitcher who has yet to make his professional debut nine months after being drafted and signed. Forbes is pretty consistently ranked near the top of the D-backs pitching prospects and there are some solid reasons for doing so. He was a high draft pick, the Dbacks selecting Forbes with the 29th overall pick, receoved as compensation for losing Christian Walker to free agent. If you’re taken that high in the draft, you’ve already shown the potential for success as professional. Forbes definitely had that potential at the University of Louisville, where he touched 100mph with his fastball while utilizing a funky 3/4 deliver. He only started pitching in college, so a slower than usual development timeline is probably to be expected. Forbes’s pro debut has been delayed even further thanks to a flexor injury in early April, which will likely keep him out of games until late May at the earliest.
Dean Livingston, who was taken with the 123rd overall pick of the 2025 draft, is another pitcher who’s a ranked prospect, yet hasn’t made his pro debut yet. Unlike Forbes, he isn’t a college pitcher, instead a high schooler who didn’t crack his team’s starting rotation until his senior year. Putting Livingston in the top ten of the D-backs pitching prospects isn’t that crazy, considering he’s a 6’4 projectable RHP with quick, intriguing arm action, who hit 97.5 MPH at the 2025 draft combine. In terms of pitch selection, Livingston has an already above average two-seam and four seam fastball, along with a low 80s slider that is coming along, and a high 70s curve that needs work. The potential is there, and I would not be surprised in the slightest to see him rocket up the prospects rankings.
Yilber Diaz is a player you’ll find on a lot of top prospect lists as well, but he’s left off of my list for a few reasons. Yes, his triple digit velocity and overall stuff is very impressive, giving him some of the highest ceilings of any pitcher in the system, but the inability to consistently command his pitches and lack of control has kept from having success in MLB. This is a player who made his pro debut two seasons ago, yet still has his rookie status intact. Currently assigned to Reno, he’s off to a fantastic start in his first 11 ⅔ innings pitched in 2026; Just one earned run allowed on four hits, four walks, and a hit by pitch, with eighteen strikeouts. His 0.77 ERA isn’t too far off from his 2.04 FIP and 2.62 xFIP, though that is a super small sample size and things can change very quickly once the weather warms up in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League.
Christian Mena made his Major League debut in 2024 for approximately one start before being waylaid with a right forearm strain for the rest of the season. Last year, Mena was again affected by an injury, this time a right shoulder strain that limited him to just nine starts in Triple-A (44 2/3 innings) and three relief appearances in the bigs. He didn’t pitch in a game after June 6. over the offseason, fellow Snakepit author Makakilo did an excellent writeup on Mena’s 2025 season that I’d recommend reading. Mena is still very young, just 23, younger than some of the pitchers who I will rank. If he was healthy currently, I’d consider ranking him near the top of the pitching prospects in the system, however, Mena hasn’t appeared in a game at all in 2026 and there’s no word of when he’ll begin his season.
Brian Curley is another from the 2025 draft that I refuse to put in my rankings yet, but unlike the aforementioned Forbes and Livingston, he has actually made his pro debut and pitched this season. A third round pick out of the University of Georgia, Curley began his season as the closer but was the Bulldog’s staff ace by the end of his season. Fellow SnakePit author Preston Salisbury has Curley as his number one pitcher in the system, when I had forgotten about him completely since the draft.
Next week we’ll look at our traditional fringey dark horse honorable mentions and begin ranking the rest of their pitching prospects.
