Arizona Diamondbacks: Zac Gallen
Zac Gallen had a bizarre 2025, struggling mightily with run prevention before a strong second-half led him to reach 192.0 IP, tied for the eighth-most innings pitched in MLB. This was his final season before free agency, where Gallen was projected to rank among the top free agent pitchers. After a tumultuous season, Gallen rejoined the Diamondbacks for 2026 on a qualifying offer.
Many of Gallen’s early-season struggles correlated with lower velocity, higher walk rates, and struggles executing his four-seamer. Gallen has routinely used his four-seamer around 50% of the time, and it was hit harder, swung and missed against less, and in less ideal locations in 2025. Gallen’s usually dominant breaking pitches were also crushed in-zone.
Gallen’s traditional approach was not successful with this slight decline in stuff. Still, Gallen flashed his ace-level upside with a strong second half and is showing signs of better stuff in Spring Training. Look for Gallen to get off to a better start in 2026 back with the Diamondbacks.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Tanner Scott
In his first season with the Dodgers, Tanner Scott struggled to reliably earn saves in a high-leverage role. Scott established himself as a premier closer in 2024, split between the Marlins and Padres, before signing a four-year, $72 million contract with the Dodgers.
While his stuff was relatively unchanged, hitters were far more aggressive in 2025, and his fastball was hit hard and in the air. After posting a below-average 12.2% walk rate in 2024 and dominating, Scott threw in-zone more in 2025, and hitters took advantage.
A generally more aggressive approach from batters led to more foul balls, deeper counts, and more waste pitches, an approach well-suited against Scott’s two-pitch arsenal. Batters also pulled fly balls far more often (5.8% pull-air in 2024, 20.5% in 2025) and, consequently, allowed more home runs (3 in 2024, 11 in 2025).
Scott is expected to retain a high-leverage role in a stacked Dodgers bullpen and has impressed so far in Spring Training. A stronger approach and better results in-zone will be key for Scott in 2026.
San Francisco Giants: Ryan Walker
After a stellar 2024, Ryan Walker earned the closer role entering 2025 and struggled out of the gate before losing opportunities to Randy Rodríguez and Camilo Doval. After an injury to Rodríguez and a trade of Doval to the Yankees, however, Walker earned saves once again down the stretch.
Not much changed between the two seasons for Walker, but hitters swung and missed far less, while lefties did the most damage. Walker’s elite combination of weak contact (87.0 mph average exit velocity) and ground balls (50.0% ground-ball rate) remained, however, suggesting these weaker results were more of a result of hitter adjustment.
In 2026, Walker is looking to regain the closer spot by finding results a little closer to 2024. While his ERA doubled in 2025, some of Walker’s ERA estimators, such as xFIP (3.63) and SIERA (3.40), were still above average. Look for Walker to find a healthy middle ground between the two seasons while settling back into a high-leverage role in 2026.
San Diego Padres: Freddy Fermin
Freddy Fermin shared time with Luis Campusano as the Padres’ backstop in 2025, and despite elite defensive metrics, Fermin struggled offensively. After showing loads of promise in 2023, boasting this same elite defense with an above-average bat, most of Fermin’s power numbers have taken steps back since.
Much of Fermin’s power has been to the pull side, as he has never hit a major league home run to the opposite field. Despite this, Fermin seemed to prioritize an opposite-field approach in 2025, which saw career-worst results (.271 xwOBA) alongside career-best contact rates.
In 2026, the main priority for Fermin should be retaining his elite defense. Sharing time with Campusano, who is also looking for a bounce-back season, Fermin is the far better defender and should see the majority of time behind the plate. While any offensive production closer to league average would be welcomed, I believe Fermin has real upside if he’s able to recapture his 2023 approach.
Colorado Rockies: Edouard Julien
Similar to Fermin, Edouard Julien struggled offensively the last two seasons after flashing potential in 2023. Julien, however, has struggled defensively in the majors and needs above-average production to remain valuable.
In 2023, Julien’s biggest tools were his elite eye and barrel rates, which led to well-above-average production despite a 31.4% strikeout rate. Since then, Julien has bounced between the majors and Triple-A, showing the same upside while fighting to keep his strikeout rate sustainable.
In January, Julien was traded to the Colorado Rockies, where more playing time and an excellent run environment await him in 2026. Julien secured an Opening Day roster spot after a solid Spring Training this past week and hopes to mash in Coors while retaining an elite walk rate in 2026.
