Evaluating Zac Gallen

Throughout Zac Gallen's time on the Miami Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks, he's proven to be one of the better pitchers in the MLB, with a 3.29 ERA from 2019 to 2024. Going into 2025, which was his last year before free agency, many expected Gallen to continue dominating and earn a massive contract after the season. However, this season Gallen's performance has completely fallen off, and he has been one of the worst pitchers in the MLB. He has the worst ERA among qualifiers in the MLB at 5.40, and the chances of getting a big contract look rather bleak.

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While I can't make assumptions about a realistic contract he'll get mainly because there is still a lot of season left, there is a realistic chance Gallen is moved at this year's trade deadline since the Diamondbacks are 47-50 and have too many injuries that are impossible to cover. Gallen's peripherals are mediocre and don't provide any encouraging signs to suggest he'll return to form. He is among the worst pitchers in hard hit% (46.7) and barrel% (11.8). His strikeout rate (22.2%) is only average, and his walk rate (9.1%) isn't optimal to bail him out on hard-hit balls. Along with that, his stuff+ and location+ numbers are essentially the same from last year on all his pitches. Gallen's been constantly outperforming his underlying numbers throughout his career, and his luck has finally caught up to him.

Teams should beware of giving up a massive haul to acquire a pitcher that has shown no signs he can turn it around this season.

• https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/zac-gallen-668678?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb

• https://www.fangraphs.com/players/zac-gallen/19291/stats?position=P

• https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/galleza01.shtml