While the Arizona Diamondbacks are an even .500, they are only six games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers at the top of the NL West. Four games behind the San Francisco Giants and five behind the San Diego Padres, the D-Backs still have a shot to compete in this division. Recently, the odds shifted against them as the team received horrendous news about the status of their All-Star pitcher.
Corbin Burnes Needs Tommy John Surgery
For the first time in his career, Burnes will have to undergo season-ending surgery. Tommy John is no joke, but it’s necessary to help preserve the long-term health of these players. For the D-Backs, it came at an extremely unfortunate time. Arizona was doing its best to compete with the three California teams, but now they’re facing an even tougher mountain to climb.
D-backs announce RHP Corbin Burnes will undergo Tommy John surgery. pic.twitter.com/nDQzGGmV3O
— MLB (@MLB) June 6, 2025
Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks, this injury comes after the team signed Burnes to a six-year, $210 million deal. Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young winner, spent his first six seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers before playing for the Baltimore Orioles in 2024.
In the 11 games he started this year, Burnes was on pace to have his best ERA since his Cy Young-winning season. His 3-2 record wasn’t phenomenal, but he’d given up just 19 earned runs in 64.1 innings pitched. With a 2.66 ERA, it was down from the 2.92 he had last season.
After putting up a 3.39 in 2023 and 2.94 in 2022, Burnes was inching closer to his 2.43 ERA from 2021, where he was 11-5. There’s no doubt that Burnes was having one of his best seasons, but a few of his advanced stats stood out as they saw an unusual increase. After having a top-five hard-hit percentage last season, that number jumped ten percent, from 31.6 to 41.6. That’s quite a jump for that category, with his BB% increasing from 6.1 to 9.8. Burnes was known for not walking his opponents, as this was the highest since 2020.
Burnes is one of four pitchers who have thrown over 50 innings this season, but the other three have ERAs north of 3.40. Merrill Kelly might be 36, but his 6-2 record and 3.43 ERA set him apart from Zac Gallen and Brandon Pfaadt. Gallen and Pfaadt have ERAs above five, but Pfaadt has a 7-4 record compared to Gallen’s 4-7.
The D-Backs’ loss of Burnes will not help, but the team is thankful that they have quality starting pitchers to replace him. No one will ever be able to replace Burnes, but this team’s goal to still compete in the division will revolve around their starting rotation bouncing back from this injury.