Who Will Be the Closer for the Arizona Diamondbacks?

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been searching for a full-time closer since Paul Sewald lost the job in 2024 due to injury and bad performances. Frankly, it’s something Arizona has struggled to find during manager Torey Lovullo’s tenure since 2017.

In 2023, they acquired Sewald at the deadline and went to the World Series with a re-made bullpen from the closer down. After Sewald was removed from the closer role, the team rotated closers with A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez. They did a decent job holding down the back of the bullpen, but ultimately Arizona has missed the playoffs in two consecutive seasons.

In 2025, once again, they were unsettled at closer as Puk and Martinez went down with elbow injuries early in the year. That left them rotating in various unproven options for the ninth inning, setting a record for most players with at least one save in a single season.

The D-Backs were also among the league leaders in blown saves and blown leads, though.

It’s well documented just how badly Lovullo wants a single closer, someone he can name and that can hold the job the whole season. It will allow him to set up the bullpen in the order he wants, with players having a set job for most situations. That’s the formula that has worked extremely well for Arizona in the past.

With that, Lovullo has been determined to name a closer before the end of Spring Training. That player will get consistent ninth-inning opportunities unless the production isn’t there or until Puk comes back and shows he’s ready.

Lovullo did mention a few candidates, though there’s surely more. Those names include Sewald, Kevin Ginkel, and Ryan Thompson. Others could be Jonathan Loáisiga, Kade Strowd, and Yilber Diaz among others.

It’s quite likely to be one of the first four names listed, though, and at the end of the season, Puk is likely to be the team’s closer due to his ability and skill. Of course, that depends on how the incumbent is doing, too.

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Paul Sewald

Paul Sewald is coming off two straight injury-plagued seasons that affected his ability to locate his fastball and slider where he wanted. He slumped, and it was clear he was just never as healthy as it seemed, especially in 2024.

In 2025, he dealt with a shoulder injury but ended the season healthy and pitched down the stretch for the Detroit Tigers after being traded there by the Cleveland Guardians.

While he pitched in just 19.2 innings in 2025 and had only a 4.58 ERA, he did have some good indicators. His xERA was better at 3.72, and he struck out 24.7% of batters, walked just 7.4%, induced weaker contact, had an xBA against of only .210, and got plenty of whiffs.

The advanced stats were kind to him and show that he has a lot left in the tank, and with health and a few adjustments, he could be quite good again despite being 35 years old.

He did have some issues, too. He lost more velocity on his fastball, which could be due to the shoulder injury. The fastball fell to 90.4 mph on average and lost 1.0 mph compared to 2024.

Additionally, he relied too much on fly balls and hardly induced any ground balls. While he’s never been a ground-ball pitcher, he had a 26.6% ground-ball rate in 2024, which is already quite low.

In 2025, it fell to the basement with a 14.5% rate. That number has to be raised far higher in order to get back to having more success, as ground balls do far less damage than balls in the air. His fly-ball rate of 69.1% is not going to be a sign of success in Chase Field, either. With a better location, he should be able to induce some more grounders, which will help him.

However, he’s a proven closer with 86 career saves, including leading Arizona to a World Series. He certainly has the best chance to be the team’s first closer if he has an effective and healthy Spring Training. And, with some adjustments, he could get back to his premier closing ways.

Kevin Ginkel

Kevin Ginkel also has some experience as a closer but is coming off a rough year filled with injury and ineffectiveness.

Ginkel started the season on the IL with a shoulder injury and just never seemed like he got back to full health. He was optioned to the minors at one point, even. There were some highlights, but it was a tough season for the veteran pitcher.

Ginkel got into just 29 games with 25.2 innings. He pitched to a 7.36 ERA with 13 walks and 29 strikeouts. He could not avoid the hard contact or the barrel. Too often, a big hit would happen which just tanked his outing.

However, there are some reasons to be optimistic. Ginkel’s fastball velocity wasn’t too much lower than 2024. His FIP was half of what his ERA was at a strong mark of 3.64. His xFIP was still a decent 4.49 and his xERA was 4.57. Not great, but significantly better than his ERA indicates.

Clearly, he had a lot of bad luck last year because those numbers are all vastly superior. He struck out 10+ batters per nine innings, had a vastly above-average and unnormal .360 BABIP, and only had another unnormal 53.4% strand rate.

Those last two numbers should get back to their normal levels, which will only help him lower his ERA and improve vastly upon 2025. Plus, he’s fully healthy, which will only help things, too.

Lastly, Ginkel ended his season on a very strong run of outings. If he hadn’t gotten hurt to end the season, his ERA might’ve been quite lower. That’s because over his last 11 games and 10.2 innings, he had just a 1.69 ERA, 1.92 FIP, three walks, and 11 strikeouts.

He was figuring it out, and it was a strong statement to end on. It gives plenty of promise and hope that he can pick up where he left off in 2026, be a strong late-inning weapon for Arizona, and perhaps add to his 16 save total.

Ryan Thompson

Ryan Thompson also dealt with multiple injuries in 2025, as did much of Arizona’s roster.

He dealt with some slumps, too, but he finished the year healthy and had a normal offseason. Now, he’s competing to be a closer and utilize his unique delivery and ground-ball-heavy (55.5% career rate) diet to earn some saves.

Thompson had a season that saw him have his highest ERA since his rookie season in 2020, which was a 3.92; however, that was one of the best ERAs in the team’s bullpen. He got into 48 games and 41.1 innings with an xERA of 3.59, FIP of 3.74, and xFIP of 3.94. This indicates that his results were roughly in line with what the expectations were.

The real issue was that he got heavily influenced by an unlucky BABIP. His BABIP was .317, a career-high mark and far outside his average of .285. He also walked batters at a career-high rate of 7.4%. That was too high to offset his below-average strikeout rate of 20.6%.

Thompson needs to improve his command and just have better batted-ball luck. He still gets plenty of chase, but the average exit velocity could be improved. That is likely due to a slow fastball velocity, around 89 mph, and poor location.

He has eight career saves, but at this point, it’s not certain that he would be the best option for a closer. While he could do it, he’s proven to be effective in a setup role. It’s not likely he winds up the choice but it could happen.

Jonathan Loáisiga

Jonathan Loáisiga is a lottery ticket that could find his way off the minor-league invite list and onto the 40-man roster with a healthy and strong Spring Training. He’s got plenty of velocity, ability, and history to be a strong reliever in the majors. He just needs to remain healthy and prove that he deserves a shot.

He’s pitched in just 50 games across the last three seasons, dealing with numerous injuries. However, he’s been effective when healthy with a 3.51 ERA over 51.1 innings. He’ll have to improve his strikeout rate, as he only rang up 34 batters over that span, which is lower his career normal.

His fastball is still quite fast, over 96 mph on average, and he gets plenty of grounders with a rate of 50% in 2025. He doesn’t walk many, limits hard contact well, and gets a ton of chase. His Statcast page is beaming with mostly red across his stats.

It’s just a matter of whether he can stay healthy, which is why he got signed to a minor-league deal to start this season. If he can stay healthy and performs as expected in Spring Training, Arizona got a strong arm on a cheap deal for however many outings he can give them in 2026 out of the bullpen.

Plus, with his high-velocity arm, penchant for limiting walks, minimizing hard contact, obtaining grounders, and a previous ability to strike out plenty of batters, he’s certainly a candidate to be the team’s interim full-time closer to start the season.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have plenty of potential closers in their bullpen who can hold the job for at least until Puk gets back in a couple of months. If it all goes well, then perhaps it’s theirs for the whole season.

Right now, the favorite is Sewald, but Ginkel should get a strong look and perhaps could be the winner, deservingly so. Thompson on the outside looking in, and Loáisiga the dark horse that could shock everyone and take it by storm.

It will be fascinating to see how things play out this spring.