It’s not as if right-hander Chad Patrick would have been considered a large part of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ future pitching staff, right?
Or perhaps he would have, had he continued on a similar upward trajectory with his former team. Instead, the D-backs sent Patrick to the then-Oakland Athletics back in 2023, in exchange for infielder Jace Peterson.
Peterson amounted to a .157 average and .469 OPS for the D-backs, and was eventually designated for assignment (and subsequently released) in April of 2024, after just 55 games with Arizona.
Patrick, meanwhile, spent some time in the Athletics’ minor league system before being swapped to Milwaukee for Abraham Toro.
And now? Patrick is pitching shutdown innings for the Brewers in the NLDS. He threw a scoreless, hitless, walkless relief inning in game two against the Chicago Cubs with two punchouts, then tossed 1.2 innings without allowing a baserunner in the seventh and eighth of a one-run game three.
With the D-backs, Patrick only ever made it as far as Double-A Amarillo. He threw to a 4.71 ERA over 19 starts for the Sod Poodles, then recorded brutal 8.44 and 7.89 numbers in limited action with Oakland’s Double- and Triple-A squads.
And yet, once Patrick landed in the pitching development paradise of Milwaukee, that ERA became an immediate 2.90 (over 136.1 innings) at the Triple-A level in 2024 — perhaps it was a departure from the offense-heavy Pacific Coast League, but clearly something had switched for the righty.
At the major league level, Patrick pitched to a 3.53 ERA and made 27 appearances (23 starts) for the Brewers in 2025. He struck out 127 over 119.2 innings and walked 40.
This is not to bemoan the departure of some future star pitcher. The Brewers are certainly one of the best organizations in the majors in terms of allowing pitchers to realize their potential, and it’s not as if the D-backs saw Patrick as a major future asset, since they so willingly parted with him.
But rather, this serves as a reminder of what can happen with proper development — something that has posed some difficulty for Arizona in recent years.
The success stories such as Justin Martinez and Ryne Nelson have felt outweighed by disappointing results from a multitude of other D-backs minor league arms.
But now, the D-backs’ minor league system has been restocked with plenty of pitching potential.
After a pitching-heavy Draft and a fire-sale Trade Deadline in 2025, Arizona has a plethora of exciting young arms looking to rise up the organization.
The coming years will be pivotal for the D-backs in developing a steady stream of major- and minor-league pitching depth — something that has been quite elusive in recent seasons.
