D-backs prospect Patrick Forbes sweeping through the Fall League with new offering
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GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Patrick Forbes played both ways as a University of Louisville freshman and for one plate appearance as a Cardinals sophomore until a broken hand put an end to that, forcing him onto the mound full-time. The move paid off. He went to the D-backs with the 29th pick in 2025 and is now the No. 11 prospect in the Arizona system. But there are times when Forbes the pitcher thinks about how Forbes the batter would approach him from the box. When that happens, he reminds himself that no one knows himself like he does.
“I don't know how much that really helps,” he said. “I was kind of an overthinker as a hitter.”
It is useful in this way; now in the Arizona Fall League, the 22-year-old right-hander is working on an arsenal change that he hopes will give hitters too much to consider here in the desert and points beyond.
The most drastic move has been the addition of a sweeper.
After an early right flexor injury and additional elbow inflammation later in the summer limited Forbes to only 29 2/3 innings between High-A Hillsboro and the Arizona Complex League, D-backs pitching coaches and coordinators approached him with adding a longer tail to the slider he had thrown in school and his first taste of the pros.
With alterations to his grip and cues to get more around the ball, Forbes averaged 14 inches of horizontal movement – and got as much as 21 inches of gloveside break – on the new 81-83 mph breaker over a Saturday start for Salt River in which he struck out four over 2 2/3 scoreless innings. He got whiffs on three of eight swings against the sweeper and used it as his primary pitch against his fellow righties, throwing it 12 times against same-side bats compared to his eight four-seamers.
“I’m pretty much the same amount of comfortable with it as I was with my other one,” Forbes said.
But why a sweeper in the first place?
“I have the cutter,” he said, “so just [having] something to separate from the cutter can help a lot with just keeping hitters off balance.”
Ah yes, the upper-80s cutter already gives the 6-foot-3 hurler something with tighter movement; in Saturday’s case, it was only two inches of horizontal break on average. The cutter was much more in play against lefties with seven of Forbes’ eight total thrown coming against opposite-side hitters. (In his AFL debut on Oct. 9, that usage ratio was exactly the same on the cutter to lefties.)
With Forbes’ changeup kept in the back pocket (he threw only one Saturday), the cutter has become his best shot at running something close to even splits. Lefties are just 2-for-10 off Forbes through the small Fall League sample of two starts so far.
“I think it just plays well to lefties,” said the D-backs farmhand. “Just something with the depth procession and just getting it in on the barrel has been good to lefties.”
In terms of the four-seamer, Forbes certainly looks like someone who showed up to the Salt River roster with some gas in the tank after the lost time during the season. He sat in the mid-90s in both of his first two outings with the Rafters, and on Saturday, his two fastest pitches were his last of the day, both at 96.1 mph against Red Sox switch-hitter Antonio Anderson including one for a whiff that ended the third inning and his outing.
“You learn ways to hold the velo, just things you do in between innings to stay fresh,” said Forbes, who touched triple-digits for Louisville in 2025. “I think breathing is a big thing that can help with that, and keeping the legs fresh because usually when your velo drops, it's from your legs, not really from your arm.”
Still, that arm will be a big focus the rest of the way here in the Fall League and into 2027.
Forbes opened ‘26 on the injured list with the flexor issue and didn’t debut until he made a rehab start in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League on May 27. More elbow inflammation kept him out for pretty much the entire month of July in the Northwest League, and while he struck out 34.5 percent of his High-A batters faced, he never went deeper than four innings in his 10 Hillsboro starts. The injuries forced Forbes to address his between-outing routines.
“I don't think I was throwing enough throughout the week,” he said. “I'd try to keep it light throughout the week, and then my start day would be really heavy and a lot of throwing. I don't think that's a good way to stay healthy through a long season, I think you have to build your system up to throw a lot.”
It’s all part of the learning process for someone still finding his way as a pitcher-only. With each tweak to his pitch mix and overall preparation, he puts his bat further in the rearview mirror, even if he occasionally wonders how Forbes the hitter would handle Forbes the pitcher.
“Sometimes, it works,” he said. “Sometimes, I don't think it works very well. But yeah, I'm done with my hitting stages.”