The Arizona Diamondbacks are bringing back starting pitcher Zac Gallen after reaching agreement on a one-year, $22.05 million deal, a source told ESPN on Friday, confirming multiple reports.
Gallen’s deal, which is pending a physical, is worth the same value as the qualifying offer he rejected earlier this offseason. According to The Athletic, it also includes about $14 million in deferrals.
The second half of a one-for-one prospect swap alongside Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the summer of 2019, Gallen jumped from the Miami Marlins to the Diamondbacks and became one of the most successful pitchers in franchise history, ultimately ranking behind only Randy Johnson and Brandon Webb with 65 wins.
Gallen went 12-4 with a 2.51 ERA in 31 starts for the D-backs in 2022 and finished fifth in National League Cy Young Award voting, then went 17-9 with a 3.47 ERA in 210 innings in 2023 and finished third.
Since then, though, his production has fallen off.
Gallen, 30, missed about a month with a hamstring strain in 2024 but still managed to go 14-6 with a 3.65 ERA. This past season, his ERA jumped to a career-high 4.83 and his strikeout rate dropped to a career-low 21.5%. Opponents went from slugging .230 against his curveball in 2024 to .438 in 2025.
The D-backs traded his longtime rotation mate, Merrill Kelly, before the trade deadline but opted to keep Gallen at least in part to later extend him the $22.025 million qualifying offer, which he declined by the Nov. 18 deadline.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez contributed to this report.
