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Gallen, who peaked in 2022 and 2023 with top-five NL Cy Young finishes, posted a career-high 4.83 ERA and 4.50 FIP in his walk year. His four-seam fastball has become very hittable the last two seasons, dragging down the whole profile. Gallen’s knuckle-curve remains effective, a source of both swing-and-miss and ground balls, and outside of a missed month in 2024, he’s been a reliable source of starts for the last four years. The projection systems are in complete agreement on Gallen, seeing him as a two-win pitcher who will take the ball 28-31 times with roughly league-average run prevention.
By re-signing Gallen, the Diamondbacks complete the re-assembly of last year’s starting rotation. Merrill Kelly, traded at the deadline, had already agreed to return for two years. Of the 162 Diamondbacks starts last year, 140 return, including the top five starters by volume. On the other hand, it was a group that was 21st in FanGraphs WAR, and that was with 11 good Corbin Burnes starts.
