D-backs part ways with pitching coach Brian Kaplan after two seasons

What happened

The Arizona Diamondbacks will not bring back pitching coach Brian Kaplan for the 2027 season, MLB.com's Steve Gilbert reported. Kaplan spent two years in the role, and the organization will not renew his contract as it heads into an offseason that was already carrying a full agenda before this vacancy opened.

Why it matters

Pitching coach continuity is one of those quiet organizational assets that rarely makes headlines until it disappears. Kaplan's departure means Arizona will be introducing a new voice to its pitching staff at a moment when the club is navigating a complicated offseason — one that, per the Diamondbacks' offseason outlook reported earlier this week, includes a tight budget, identified pitching needs, and the looming question of a prominent opt-out clause.

That is a full inbox for whoever inherits the job. The incoming coach will not be walking into a blank canvas; they will be walking into a roster with real talent, real questions, and real financial constraints already baked in.

The timing also matters in a subtler way. Coaching searches tend to run parallel to broader front-office evaluations, and the outcome of one can shape the others. Arizona will be conducting this search while simultaneously sorting through its roster construction — a process that, as the offseason outlook noted, involves both pitching and lineup needs across the board.

Kaplan's two-year tenure was short by most measures, but it was long enough to leave a mark on a staff. The organization will spend the coming weeks deciding what kind of mark they want next.

The numbers

Arizona finished 86-76 (.531) on the season, landing third in the NL West, 14 games back in the division race. The club was eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race, finishing with a Wild Card rank of 4 and sitting 2.0 games relative to the cut line — close enough to sting, not close enough to matter.

Those 86 wins represent the full context in which Kaplan's two-year tenure will be evaluated. The staff he oversaw was not without its highlights. Eduardo Rodriguez, as reported earlier this week, posted a 2.89 ERA in 2026 despite ERA estimators projecting something closer to 4.4 — a gap driven by elite pitch location, with Rodriguez registering a 109 Location+ that suggests the results were earned rather than borrowed. Whether Kaplan's fingerprints are on that development is a question the organization will weigh internally; what is on the record is that the staff produced a pitcher who outperformed his peripherals by a meaningful margin in what was a notable season by any measure.

Where the club stands

At 86-76, the Diamondbacks close the book on a season that ended without a postseason berth — their third consecutive year missing the playoffs, per the offseason outlook reported earlier this week. The club enters the offseason from third place in the NL West, riding a two-game losing streak to close things out and carrying a roster that needs work on multiple fronts.

The pitching coach vacancy is now the most visible item on a staff-construction checklist that was already crowded. Arizona's budget constraints, as previously reported, will shape how aggressively the club can address its pitching needs on the open market, which in turn shapes what the new pitching coach will be working with from day one of spring training.

What we don't know yet

The club has not announced a timeline for the coaching search, a list of candidates, or any indication of the profile they are targeting. It is also not yet known whether any other coaching staff changes will accompany Kaplan's departure, or whether the search will be conducted in parallel with other organizational decisions already in motion.

The opt-out situation flagged in the offseason outlook remains unresolved and represents one of the larger variables hanging over the pitching staff's composition heading into the winter. Whoever takes the pitching coach role will be inheriting a staff whose top-end construction is still in flux — which is either an exciting challenge or a logistical headache, depending on how the opt-out shakes out.

Derek Law's decision to elect free agency after being outrighted to Triple-A, reported earlier this week following a mid-September DFA, is a small but illustrative data point about the organizational depth picture the new coach will inherit. The bullpen, in particular, figures to be an area of active roster work this winter, and the incoming pitching coach will have a voice in how that work gets done.

What to watch

The coaching search itself is the immediate thread to follow. Arizona will need to identify and hire a pitching coach before spring training, and the profile of that hire — whether the club prioritizes a development-oriented background, a particular pitching philosophy, or familiarity with the existing roster — will signal something about the direction the organization intends to take its staff.

The opt-out decision, whenever it comes, will materially change the math on what the new pitching coach is walking into. A rotation with its top arm retained looks different from one that needs to replace him, and the budget constraints already on the table mean Arizona may not have a straightforward path to either outcome.

Rodriguez's 2026 performance, and whether the club views it as a sustainable baseline or a favorable outlier, will also factor into how the front office frames its pitching needs — and by extension, what it asks of the next person standing in the dugout with a spin-rate chart and a bullpen phone that never stops ringing.

Two seasons is a short tenure. The search for the next one starts now.