SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — Four-time All-Star Corbin Burnes made his spring training debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, striking out all three Colorado batters he faced. He looks like the dominant pitcher he has always been, and that bodes very well for a team trying to get back to its World Series competitiveness a couple of years ago.
The 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner retired 3 batters in just 16 pitches and even took advantage of the new automotive ball-and-strike computer system, and a pitch was deemed a strike.
Shortly after the outing, Burns had his media session at his Spring Trainnig locker in the facilities clubhouse and had this to say about getting the first day. behind him.
“It’s good to get our there,” Burnes said. “Good to knock some rust off, get out there and have a relatively quick one.”
Corbin added: “The more time I can get on the mound in game situations, the more comfortable I feel, and the better I can prepare for the season,” Burnes said.
Manager Torey Lovullo will have to make a vital decision about who will be the team’s opening-day starter against the Chicago Cubs, it’s evident Burnes could challenge the team’s top pitcher, Zac Gallen. It probably will be Gallen because of his track record with the club and its very hard to bring in a guy and supplant the guy that had been the teams best pitcher, on the other hand if Corbin Burns show dominance in all of his outings that decision for day one may not be in question but later throughout the year if Zac struggles we could see a new ace for the Diamondbacks in 2025.
Skipper Torey said after the Burns debut about the decision: “It’ll be a tough conversation for me, not for them,” Lovullo said. “From what I’m learning about Corbin and what I know of Zac, I think they would understand and move aside for the other and support that decision wholeheartedly.”
No matter who is the starter, the Dbacks have a very stacked starting pitcher room and potentially have seven guys that could be in the rotation. It’s not likely all will be starters, so there are even more questions about the rotation, but this is a very good problem to have.
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