Who Will Close Games In The Desert?
The bullpen has long been the Achilles’ heel for the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise but coming into last season, hopes were high as it appeared they finally had some premium arms at the backend of their bullpen with Justin Martinez and A.J Puk. Martinez had both the potential and profile of a future lock-down closer and seemed poised to take over in 2025 after breaking out in the second half of the 2024 season. Armed with powerful top-end stuff (including a four-seam fastball that averages over 100 MPH), as well as control concerns that are common with young pitchers, Martinez racked up 90 strikeouts over 72.2 innings pitched. He compiled a 2.48 ERA and was mostly able to keep the walks under control with a 1.30 WHIP. In the midst of the playoff race, Arizona added Puk from the Marlins before the 2024 trade deadline. The southpaw had some experience as a closer, saving 15 games for Miami in 2023. He pitched in 30 games for the Snakes, serving primarily as a set-up man, and had a microscopic 1.32 ERA and 0.73 WHIP.
Then the 2025 season started and by early June, both pitchers had been shut down for the year. Until that point, they had split closing duties with Puk nabbing four saves and Martinez five. Over the rest of the season, the Diamondbacks had 15 additional pitchers record a save. Shelby Miller finished the year as the team leader in saves with 10, but he didn’t finish the year with the team as he was shipped to the Brewers at the trade deadline. Arizona set new MLB records for most pitchers with a save in a season (17) and most pitchers with at least two saves in a season (9). Unfortunately, those are not the kind of records that a franchise wants to be breaking. That brings us to the upcoming season where there’s an open competition in Spring Training and a number of potential arms who could take over the role.
Dark Horses
Kade Strowd
Kade Strowd 2025 Movement Profile Baseball Savant
Strowd is a new addition to the desert, joining Arizona in early February as the main piece that came back in the trade that sent Blaze Alexander to Baltimore. Strowd made his major league debut in 2025 as a 27-year-old rookie for Baltimore. Despite a 4.15 ERA in Triple-A in 2025, he found better footing once he hit the bigs, pitching to a 1.71 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 25 games. He had 24 strikeouts in 26.1 innings. The Orioles’ confidence in Strowd increased as the season progressed. He ended the season with an ERA of 1.93 in 11 games in September, racking up five holds over that time frame.
Strowd has the stuff to succeed as a late-inning reliever, with multiple high powered pitches to keep batters guessing. He threw a cutter most often in 2025, around 40% of the time, and averaged just under 92 MPH with the pitch. He followed that up with a four-seamer and sinker that both averaged around 96 MPH. Alexander was a strong clubhouse presence for Arizona in 2025 and was quickly becoming a fan favorite with his versatility and slick defense. To give that up, Arizona’s front office had to have liked Strowd’s potential quite a bit, so he’ll be given ample chances to make an impact in 2026. His hurdle to clear is inexperience.
The Diamondbacks signed Loáisiga to a minor-league deal in mid-January after he spent eight seasons with the Yankees. Depending on how he looks this spring, he could carve out a major role in the bullpen. Loáisiga was a high-leverage arm for New York’s bullpen before injuries slowed him down over the past few seasons. He was excellent in 2021, appearing in 57 games and compiling a 9-4 record with a 2.17 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. He totaled 18 holds and five saves that season. In his career, he has a 3.54 ERA and 1.26 WHIP over 249.1 innings pitched.
However, he comes into this season as a 31-year-old pitcher who has only pitched 33.2 innings in the last two years after missing most of the 2024 season and being shut down before the end of the 2025 season. The former Yankee’s entire body of work is arguably the best on this list. He also has the pedigree and experience playing in high pressure environments in late innings, but his obvious health concerns make him a wild card.
Drey Jameson
Jameson’s career has been riddled by injuries but he has the raw stuff that could make him a late game standout. Fans may have forgotten that Jameson got his major league start all the way back at the end of the 2022 season. In his first career start, he went seven scoreless innings and struck out five while only giving up two hits. He made four starts and threw at least six innings in three of those four starts. He finished the season with a 3-0 record and a 1.48 ERA.
In 2023, he appeared in 15 games, making three starts and shifting into the bullpen as a multi-inning reliever. He was 3-1 with one save when he went on the IL with elbow issues in July. He was eventually shut down and underwent Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss the entire 2024 season. He also missed most of the 2025 season as he recovered, but finally found some relief after undergoing a botox injection procedure. I was lucky enough to interview Jameson back in October as he described his return to the mound to face live action in the Arizona Fall League. Drey has made progress since the AFL appearances and recently pitched in a live Spring Training game where his fastball touched 98 MPH. Jameson is also working on developing a third pitch for his arsenal. The Ball State alum has a career ERA of 2.65 and has shown flashes of potential when he has been healthy. If he is healthy, I like his chances to move up the bullpen hierarchy as the season advances.
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The next group of pitchers have a better chance at closing games in 2026 as they have longer track records in the major leagues and multiple years experience pitching with the team.
Favorites
Thompson is a lanky righty who deploys a sidearm technique that has been effective for him during his time with the Diamondbacks. He joined the team in 2023 and pitched well during the team’s surprise run to the World Series. In 2024, he went 7-5 with a 3.26 ERA and racked up 24 holds and two saves.
The sidewinder had a rough start to the 2025 season. He gave up 15 earned runs in 22 innings during March, April, and May. The month of May was particularly awful as Ryan’s ERA and WHIP ballooned to marks of 8.68 and of 2.14.
Thompson returns to the dugout after an appearance against the Royals in Spring Training 2025. (Nate Kosher)
There may have been a reason for these early season bumps in the road as Thompson recently made reference to tipping his pitches during that time. Once he hit June, the former 23rd round pick locked things back in, pitching to a tiny 0.96 ERA and lowering his WHIP to a more respectable 1.39. He missed time due to injury in July and August, but returned in September with more success. He lowered his WHIP all the way down to 0.78 and pitched to an ERA of 2.00. Here’s how Thompson’s season looked as a whole:
Thompson’s game works by inducing groundouts and limiting contact. He’s best suited as a setup man before the closer comes in as his pitching power is down a step from Jameson and Strowd. However, he has a more established role with the team, giving him a better chance at stealing a few saves in 2026.
Kevin Ginkel
The Gink, as he is affectionately called by Diamondbacks fans, was also a standout during Arizona’s World Series season in 2023. That season he threw 65.1 innings and had a 2.48 ERA in the regular season with four saves and a sparkling 9-1 record. As good as those numbers were, he raised his game another level in the playoffs with a perfect 0.00 ERA in the postseason. He appeared in 10 games, throwing 11.2 scoreless innings and striking out 15.
He followed up with a record of 8-3 with a 3.21 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 2024, nabbing five saves. Unfortunately, similar to Ryan Thompson, Gink also ran into inconsistency and injuries in 2025 as his ERA jumped to 7.36 and his WHIP increased to 1.64. Control was an issue as his BB/9 innings rate also increased to 4.6 as compared to 1.9. It ended up being his worst season in the pros. Ginkel has played seven seasons for Arizona and has saves in six of those seven years, so he’s a good bet to get some of the save opportunities in 2026.
Paul Sewald
Things got even murkier on the Diamondbacks closer front as the team signed Paul Sewald earlier this month. It’s a reunion with the 35-year-old righty as he played with Arizona for half the 2023 season and all of the 2024 season. However, Diamondbacks fans may still have bad memories associated with Sewald. As is a recurring theme in this article, Sewald was indeed an instrumental part of the pitching staff who pitched important innings in the 2023 playoff push, but at times it was a nail-biting adventure. He saved 13 games in the regular season and then was lights out during the playoffs in the Wild Card, Divisional Round, and NLCS rounds. Sewald closed the door six times and didn’t give up a single run.
Then two outs away from a win in game 1 of the World Series, Sewald served up a game-tying home run to Corey Seager on a pitch that hung too high over the plate. In 2024, he had 16 saves before being removed from the closer role in early August. Sewald spent 2025 with Cleveland and Detroit and pitched to a 4.58 ERA with two saves.When he is firing on all cylinders, the former Mariners’ closer gets out hitters with his sweeper, which he throws in the 82-83 MPH range. But it’s sometimes an uphill battle for the pitcher as his fastball tops out at only 91-92 MPH, much lower than the standard MLB closer. All that being said, Paul has by far the most career saves of anyone on this list (86) and most experience pitching in the 9th inning. Even with the past struggles, he has a solid chance at becoming the closer for the beginning of the season.
About the Author
This is Nate Kosher’s debut article for Painting Corners. Nate is a Twin Cities based baseball writer who has been writing about sports for over 20 years. He is a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and has written and podcasted for Pitcher List. He now focuses most of his baseball writing on his Substack newsletter Runs Produced.
Nate grew up watching terrible low-budget Twins teams at the Metrodome before eventually converting to the Arizona Diamondbacks (the power of teal and purple in the 1990s). His goal is to someday visit all 30 MLB ballparks and he believes Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame.