2025 SnakePit Awards: Pitcher of the Year nominations

There was a lack of much in the way of serious nominations for this category, beyond the most obvious one. I trust this means people will be happy with whatever I choose: I don’t want to hear any complaints! 🙂 But it did prove a little tricky. The first two candidates were obvious: Merrill Kelly and Ryne Nelson. But thereafter, things got murky. Corbin Burnes was third by the average of bWAR and fWAR. But does someone who was basically done by the start of June deserve inclusion, well though he pitched to that point? Or should I give a spot to Pfaadt, who threw more innings than anyone else bar Zac Gallen? Feel that has to count for something.

However, we then had an effective triple tie between Gallen, Shelby Miller and Andrew Saalfrank. If I was to be consistent, then Gallen’s 192 innings of work would be the tie-breaker. Indeed, he perhaps deserves a spot more than Pfaadt, having thrown more with a lower ERA – albeit a higher FIP. Or perhaps not. In the end, I went with Pfaadt as the third starter, then Miller and Saalfrank as the two relievers. Not least because I can largely recycle the paragraphs for that pair from the Unsung Hero and Rookie categories respectively. I also added a “None of the Above” category, since let’s face it, our pitching staff this year barely deserves a participation medal.

Merrill Kelly

Merrill had a solid year, posting a 3.22 ERA, the best in our rotation across 22 starts. If he had played the entire season here, he might have also lead the team in WAR. However, there’s a case to be made that the most valuable thing Merrill did this year was get traded to the Texas Rangers, a swap which certainly improved the D-backs’ minor-league pitching, by bringing back Mitch Bratt, Kohl Drake and David Hagaman. Arizona definitely got the best of Kelly, his ERA increasing by more than a run over ten starts in Texas, who also ended up missing the playoffs. Kelly then returned to Arizona in the off-season, thereby probably fulfilling some kind of prophecy.

Shelby Miller

Nominated by Michael McDermott. “Went from minor league signing to a solid closer in a crisis situation. Also who doesn’t love a redemption story?” If there were a Comeback Player of the Year in these awards, Miller would be a shoo-in. His first stint here was a disaster, and left him a despised names among fans, up there with Ortiz, Tomas and Bumgarner. The news he was a non-roster invitee understandably triggered disdain. But Miller prevailed, proving that he deserved a spot on the roster. He then kept his head elbow ligaments, when all about him were losing theirs, and ended up becoming the closer, and leading the team in saves. His final contribution was saving the team money, being dealt to Milwaukee with the dead arm of Jordan Montgomery.

Ryne Nelson

Well, one of our pitchers provided a pleasant surprise, in terms of taking a huge step forward in performance. Nelson couldn’t crack the Opening Day rotation, but moved full-time into there after we lost Burnes for the season. An ugly first start didn’t breed confidence, but over nineteen subsequent appearances, Nelson’s level of pitching was one Burnes would have been hard-pushed to match. Nelson was charged with just one loss – and in that, he allowed one earned run over 5.1 innings – while posting a 2.89 ERA. It included great performances like six innings of one-hit ball against the Pirates, and he deserved better than nine no-decisions over his final ten appearances.

Brandon Pfaadt

The good news for Pfaadt in 2025 was mostly around his peripherals, where he again had a FIP that was more than a run better than his actual ERA. However, he was also an ever-present in the rotation, making 33 starts. But when Pfaadt was on his game, the results could be stellar. Never was that more true than in mid-September against the Giants when he tossed nine innings of shutout, one-hit ball. By Game Score, it was the best by any D-back in more than seven years, and only surpassed once since 2004. Fair to say, Pfaadt in 2025 was like a box of chocolates. Strawberry creme or crunchy frog? You never knew.

Andrew Saalfrank

As Michael said in the nominations thread, “This should be a runaway because the other rookies put up typical rookie numbers.” Certainly, Saalfrank returned to the form he showed when he first came up, not allowed an earned run until his 12th appearance. Across 28 games, he had a 1.24 ERA, though his FIP was more than two runs higher. The elephant in the room, however, is the reason why he played only 28 games. Saalfrank was suspended for a year after having been found to be gambling on baseball (not on D-backs games). That kept him off the roster until early June. Should that be a factor in our decision? I leave that thorny question up to the voters.

No award

For the second season in a row, the Diamondbacks’ pitching probably cost them a post-season spot. They didn’t have to be great, given an offense which scored more runs than all but a handful of teams in the majors. League average would probably have been good enough. A bullpen apparently allergic to leads, regardless of the size, would have been helpful. But let’s not exempt the starting rotation, where Jordan Montgomery, Eduardo Rodriguez and Zac Gallen were paid $56 million in total, for 62 starts at an ERA of almost five. We shouldn’t be handing any awards to a group who, collectively, need to sit in the corner and think about what they did.

The poll is below, or here. As ever, drop a comment telling us who you chose, and why.