Josh Naylor Trade: D-backs Add Brandyn Garcia & Ashton Izzi in Pitching-Focused Deal

The Arizona Diamondbacks have waved the white flag for 2025, starting with the trade of first baseman Josh Naylor to the Seattle Mariners for pitching prospects Brandyn Garcia and Ashton Izzi. The deal adds some much-needed pitching depth to a system sorely lacking in that department. The team drafted a pair of high-velocity arms in Patrick Forbes and Brian Curley, but the organization had two viable starting pitching prospects entering the month of July.

At the time of the trade, I would rank Izzi as the D-backs’ No. 3 starting pitcher prospect behind Cristian Mena and Daniel Eagen, but ahead of Forbes and Curley. Garcia ranks as the No. 6 pitcher and top reliever, edging out right-hander and another potential 2025 debutant in Hayden Durke.

The goal for the D-backs at the trade deadline is to improve the team’s chances of winning in 2026. This deal gives them a fighting chance on that front, as Garcia projects as a potential key member of the bullpen as early as this season.

Scouting Report: LHP Brandyn Garcia

Pitch Mix

• Sinker: 97.1 MPH average velocity, 1.7” induced vertical break, 16.4” arm-side run
• Slider: 89.7 MPH, 0.3” iVB, 2.7” glove-side sweep
• Sweeper: 85.3 MPH, -2.3” iVB, 16.1” glove-side sweep

The most notable aspect of his pitch shapes is that they run on a horizontal axis. His primary three-pitch mix (sinker, slider, sweeper) offers very little induced vertical break. That’s likely a result of a low arm angle, as Statcast measures his arm to be 15°, a low three-quarter slot.

Here’s a look at the sinker that bears in on a left-handed hitter (Brice Turang)

And here’s the sweeper for a whiff against a right-handed hitter (Caleb Durbin)

Garcia is a candidate to finish the season in the D-backs’ bullpen. The arm slot, combined with a sinker/sweeper combination that stretches the zone horizontally, makes him a tough matchup against lefties. The sinker and sweeper should tunnel well off each other, punishing hitters who guess wrong with a whiff or a weak ground ball.

Garcia’s stuff plays well when he locates it around the arm and glove side edges of the strike zone, and down in the lower third of the zone if he’s chasing ground balls. The movement profile on his sinker and sweeper should allow him to miss bats out there. The type of hitters that could give him trouble are those with steep bat paths designed to barrel up strikes in the lower-third of the zone.

With the combination of his stuff and arm angle, Garcia projects to be a late-inning arm that matches up against lefties. It’s unclear if he’ll have the same swing-and-miss ability as A.J. Puk, who is likely out until the All-Star break recovering from elbow surgery (not Tommy John), as there isn’t much pitch data on him in Triple-A or MLB.

Garcia gives the D-backs their farm system lacks, a left-handed arm with premium velocity. Their top left-handed reliever options in the system (Kyle Backhus, Nate Savino, Andrew Saalfrank, and Philip Abner) all average 90-91 MPH on their fastballs. Saalfrank has the sweeping curve (-9.7” iVB, 8.3” glove-side sweep) to keep hitters off a sinker that averages 89.4 MPH and Backhus offers a similar approach at a lesser velocity (about 7 MPH difference compared to Garcia).

Ideally, Garcia gets a chance to prove himself at the major league level as soon as possible. He was optioned to Triple-A Reno following the trade, but is a candidate to be recalled as soon as the deadline sorts itself out. Simply put, his stuff is too good to waste in Reno for long and he should get a major league look to see if he’s worth putting into consideration for the 2026 Opening Day bullpen.

With how right-handed the starting rotation is likely to be, having three lefties (Garcia, Saalfrank, Backhus) could work out quite well.

The rest of this post, including a full pitch-by-pitch breakdown and future projection for Ashton Izzi, is for paid subscribers only. If you're a D-backs fan or a prospect nerd, this one’s worth unlocking.

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