Overview
- Rating: 2.48
- 2025 stats: 4 G, 3.1 IP, 8.10 ERA, 6.14 FIP, -0.1 aWAR
- Date of birth: February 16, 1992 (age 33 season)
- 2025 earnings: $152,151 (per Spotrac, prorated amount from 1 yr/$760,000 contract)
- 2026 status: Free Agent
Voting overview
2025 review
Jeff Brigham came to the Snakes via a minor league deal signed in December 2024. He had last pitched in the major leagues in 2023 with the New York Mets, but after a largely ineffective season with them,
he was non-tendered. The Twins signed him to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training for the 2024 season, but Brigham never cracked the Twins roster, spending his whole season with the Twins AAA affiliate in St. Paul before reaching free agency once again in the winter of 2024.
The Diamondbacks made Brigham a Non-Roster Invitee to Spring Training where he had an uninspiring 5.59 ERA thanks in large part to a high walk-rate (14.3%!) and a proclivity to giving up homers. Beginning the season in Reno, Brigham didn’t put up sparkling run prevention numbers, but his K% of 37% provided some hope that maybe he could be of some value to the major league team as it struggled to cope with injuries and underperformance.
On May 30th, the Diamondbacks made the call to option Kevin Ginkel, who had been struggling mightily to start the year, to Reno and replace him with Jeff Brigham. In Michael McDermott’s write-up on the transaction on SI, he wrote:
The main takeaway from his numbers is that he misses bats at an exceptional level, with 32 of the 86 hitters faced (37.2%) going down on strikes…The one negative in his profile is that he’s susceptible to the long ball. He’s surrendered five home runs in 20.2 innings, which is still exceptionally high for the PCL…With the front side of the bullpen being a revolving door for much of the season, the Diamondbacks are hoping that Brigham can add some stability there.
Spoiler alert: he did not.
Brigham made his first appearance against the Nationals on the day that he was called up, entering in the 9th inning of a 6-9 ballgame where he gave up a walk and single before escaping the inning unscathed. In fact, his first 3 appearances were all scoreless, but it all came apart on June 9th. On that day, the Diamondbacks were cruising with a 4-0 lead and the ball in the hands of Justin Martinez. After striking out the first 2 Mariners hitters, Martinez gave up a 2 out walk and then allowed the runner to reach second on Defensive Indifference. After getting a swinging strike to bring the count to 1-1, Martinez motioned to the home dugout to come out to the mound and remove him from the game. It was the last pitch Martinez would throw in the 2025 season thanks to an elbow injury, and it led to Brigham’s final appearance as a major leaguer in 2025.
Jeff Brigham came on as the injury replacement only needing to get 1 out before giving up 4 runs. Instead, Brigham allowed 4 runs to score while recording 0 outs, capped with a game-tying home run by Dominic Canzone.
The Diamondbacks went on to lose that game in extras 8-4, one of the many come-from-ahead losses the team suffered in 2025. The next morning, Brigham was optioned to Reno where he pitched sparingly as he spent two separate stints on the Injured List before finally being released by the team on August 12. He finished the year as a free agent, not being signed by any other team.
2026 outlook
That appearance in early June could wind up being Brigham’s last on a major league field. Entering his age-34 season, there’s not a lot of data to suggest he will bring value to a big league bullpen. His last season with positive value above replacement level was 2022 and he owns a career ERA of nearly 5 with a FIP to match along with a consistent knack for giving up home runs. I imagine he’ll get offered a minor league deal somewhere, but it will likely take a major league bullpen implosion on the scale of what the Snakes suffered through in early 2025 for Brigham to make his way onto a major league roster.
