Introducing Corbin Burnes: 4 things to know about the D-backs' new ace

What an eventful offseason it’s been for the Arizona Diamondbacks, huh? They lost first base stalwart Christian Walker to the Houston Astros, but quickly swooped in to trade for his replacement, Josh Naylor, and have now opened their pocketbooks to sign ace right-handed pitcher Corbin Burnes to a six-year $210 million contract.

Burnes pitched last year for the Baltimore Orioles after being traded there by the Milwaukee Brewers where his career first blossomed.

With Burnes and the newly acquired Naylor in tow, the Snakes will look to build on the best of the last two seasons; making further gains in the win column like last year and executing another deep playoff push like in 2023.

Here are four things to know about Corbin Burnes and his signing in Arizona.

Why Burnes chose the Diamondbacks

One of the big reasons Burnes chose to sign with Arizona is that he lives in the Phoenix area.

“When we heard that this could be an opportunity, we just got really excited,” Burnes said, referring to his family. “Always you dream about ‘Oh, what if the Diamondbacks call?’ Like we’re going to have to take it. We were fortunate that they were interested. It was kind of a match made in heaven.”

Burnes also came away impressed with how the D-backs played the Brewers in the 2023 Wild Card Series where Arizona won 2-0. In the game Burnes started, he gave up four runs in just four innings pitched.

“I remember telling people they’re playing a different style of baseball,” Burnes said. “I think we’re starting to see that more and more around the league, but to me the D-backs were the first team to do that. They’ve drafted, they’ve developed well to play that style of game, so I’m happy to be a part of it and to join a rotation that was already really good and I think we’ve got the pieces to to be a really good postseason team.”

That potential rotation was another reason Burnes settled on Arizona. Especially the opportunity to pitch alongside fellow ace Zac Gallen.

“When I called Zac to tell him he was joining with Corbin, I’ve never heard him more excited,” Scott Boras said, the agent representing both Burnes and Gallen. “When you have two true number one starters, they change the format of playoff mentality. Having numbers ones gives you a synergy to the team where you just don’t have losing streaks.”

Burnes’s breakout

Before 2020, Burnes was one of, if not the worst pitcher in the majors. He was coming off a season where he posted a 8.82 ERA in 49 innings for the Brewers and couldn’t quite seem to figure things out. The one pitch that did work for him whatsoever though was his cutter. Taking note of this, Burnes and the Brewers decided to completely eliminate his four-seam fastball and transition to throwing the cutter as his primary fastball. And it has done wonders for his career.

In the shortened 2020 season, the righty lowered his ERA to 2.11 and finished sixth in Cy Young Award voting. Proving it wasn’t a fluke, Burnes came out again in 2021 and had a 2.43 ERA to lead the major leagues while also leading in FIP (1.63), home runs per nine (0.4) strikeouts per nine (12.6) and strikeout to walk ratio (6.88).

This impressive season culminated in his first all star appearance and a National League Cy Young Award victory. Burnes hasn’t looked back since, making the All Star Game and finishing at least top-eight in Cy Young voting all three seasons since then, including a top-five finish last year with the Baltimore Orioles.

“My goal each and every year is to stay healthy, my value is on the field,” Burnes said. “If I can take care of my body off the field, my mind off the field, to be the best prepared I can and having the most recovery I can between each start, I know I can go out there and make 30-plus starts every year and give the team the best chance to win.”

How Burnes did last season

During the last offseason, Burnes was traded from the Brewers to the Orioles because Milwaukee felt they wouldn’t have the money to retain his services on the open market, and the Orioles had the prospect haul to match Milwaukee’s demands.

Corbin Burnes did Corbin Burnes things his one year in the American League.

His Baseball Savant page is full of red pixels, meaning he ranks highly in the percentile rankings of different pitching metrics. His signature cutter ranked in the 96th percentile in fastball run value, his breaking pitches ranked in the 88th percentile in run value, his hard-hit percentage put him in the 95th percentile, and he started the All Star Game in Arlington for the American League.

If you want to dig into some nerdier, less known statistics, he finished 11th in all of baseball for pitcher xwOBACON (expected weighted on-base average on contact), just behind last year’s AL Cy Young and triple crown winner Tarik Skubal. While he took the loss in his lone playoff start for the O’s, he went eight innings and gave up just a single run to the Kansas City Royals. In short, Burnes had another masterclass of a season last year.

“We’ve stated from the outset we are looking to push forward to put the best team possible for next year and beyond and there’s no better way to do that than to add a number one starting pitcher to the top of your rotation,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said. “We know that’s what wins in the postseason. We know that that’s what gets you to the postseason and we’re looking to build on the on the recent success that we’ve had.”

What can fans expect from this contract?

The history of major Diamondbacks free agent signings is a bit shaky to say the least, aside from Randy Johnson, so D-backs fans can’t be blamed if they’re slightly wary about signing Burnes to a long-term deal. 

The difference though between someone like Burnes and say Madison Bumgarner, is that Burnes is clearly still at the top of his game. While MadBum came in with an elite track record, between injuries and a drop off in performance, it was also abundantly clear his time as an elite starter was over. 

The only concerns for Burnes would be a declining strikeout rate. Burnes led baseball in strikeout percentage his Cy Young season, but that number has dipped every year since, including a near career low in 2024 at 8.4 K’s/9. But don’t get it twisted, it isn’t a poor number. In fact, it’s around league average.

With the cutter not being a strikeout pitch and more of one to induce weak contact, it would make sense that Burnes doesn’t rank among the top strikeout pitchers. This checks out with his aforementioned hard hit percentage ranking so well compared to his counterparts. 

Another thing fans might be able to expect is for him to opt out of the deal after two years and hit the open market again. Him opting out isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If he were to opt out, it likely means he’ll have had a highly productive two seasons in a D-backs uniform, which could mean team success as well. Plus, the team could always re-sign him or use the open money elsewhere to improve wherever they may need two years from now.

With all that, I’d like to end on one final note: What is with the Arizona Diamondbacks and their obsession with the name Corbin? Of the four players with Corbin as a first or last name to play in the 21st century, the Snakes have employed ALL OF THEM: pitchers Patrick Corbin and Corbin Martin, outfielder/franchise cornerstone Corbin Carroll, and now the richest player in Diamondbacks history, Corbin Burnes.

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