Patrick Forbes struck out four batters over 2 2/3 scoreless innings for Salt River on Saturday, and eight of those outs came against right-handed hitters facing a pitch he barely threw a year ago. The Arizona Diamondbacks prospect is working in a new sweeper during the Arizona Fall League, and early returns suggest the pitch is reshaping how he attacks same-side hitters.
Forbes, 22, is the Diamondbacks’ No. 11 prospect and a right-hander who stands 6-foot-3. Arizona took him 29th overall in the 2025 draft out of Louisville, where he played both ways as a freshman before a broken hand in a single sophomore-year plate appearance ended his time as a hitter and pushed him into pitching full time, according to MLB.com.
The New Sweeper And Its Early Numbers
Diamondbacks pitching coaches asked Forbes to add more tail to the slider he threw in college and in his first pro outings. The result is a sweeper that sat 81-83 mph in his Saturday start, averaging 14 inches of horizontal movement and reaching as much as 21 inches of gloveside break, per MLB.com. Forbes made adjustments to his grip and his mechanics, getting more around the ball to generate the added sweep.
The early feel has been strong. Forbes got whiffs on three of his eight swings against the pitch Saturday and used it as his primary weapon against right-handed batters, throwing it 12 times compared to eight four-seamers in those matchups. “I’m pretty much the same amount of comfortable with it as I was with my other one,” Forbes said, according to MLB.com, a notable comment for a pitch he has had in its current form for only a short stretch of the Fall League.
How The Pitch Mix Fits Together
The sweeper is not replacing everything else in Forbes’ arsenal. He also carries an upper-80s cutter with tighter, two-inch average horizontal break on Saturday that he leans on more against left-handed hitters, throwing it seven of eight times to opposite-side batters. That split approach has worked early: lefties are just 2-for-10 against Forbes through his first two Fall League starts.
His four-seam fastball remains the headline pitch in terms of raw stuff. It sat in the mid-90s in both outings since his Arizona Fall League debut on Oct. 9, topping out at 96.1 mph on his two fastest pitches Saturday. Forbes touched triple digits during his final season at Louisville in 2025, so the current velocity represents a step down from his ceiling, though still firmly above-average for a starting pitching prospect.
Managing Health While Adding A New Pitch
The timing of the sweeper’s introduction matters given Forbes’ injury history this year. A right flexor issue and elbow inflammation limited him to just 29 2/3 innings between High-A Hillsboro and the Arizona Complex League during the summer. Learning a new breaking ball in the Fall League gives him reps without the workload demands of a full affiliated season.
Forbes has also talked about adjusting his in-game routine to protect his arm while chasing consistent velocity. “You learn ways to hold the velo, just things you do in between innings to stay fresh,” Forbes said, according to MLB.com. “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.”
That attention to his arm is expected to continue through the rest of the Fall League and into 2027, per MLB.com’s reporting.
What It Means For His Development
Two starts is a small sample, but the early shape of the sweeper gives Forbes a distinct weapon against right-handed hitters that his previous slider did not offer in the same form. Pairing it with a cutter he deploys almost exclusively against lefties shows a pitcher building a platoon-specific approach rather than relying on one breaking ball for every hitter. For a 29th overall pick who lost development time to injury, the Fall League has become a proving ground for both a new pitch and his ability to stay healthy while throwing it.
What’s Next
Forbes is expected to continue building on the sweeper through the remainder of the Arizona Fall League season, with his health and workload management remaining a priority heading into 2027.
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