Corbin Burnes, the former Cy Young Award winner who received a $210 million contract to push the Arizona Diamondbacks into the National League’s elite, will have Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of this season and most of 2026.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo made the announcement on Friday in Cincinnati, where his team was set to open a three-game series against the Reds.
‘It was a lot of fast-moving information, a lot of people weighed in on this, and Corbin felt like this was the best decision for him to continue pushing forward,’ Lovullo said in Cincinnati. ‘We’re all with Corbin right now. This is a tough day to get this news, but we’ll find a way to rally around him and play hard for him all year long. Timelines? I don’t know. When is he coming back? I have no idea. I just know that it’s a long road, and it takes time for him to heal and recover, and he will.’
Burnes, 30, was 70 pitches into his 11th start of the season when he hopped in pain and mouthed to his dugout that the discomfort was coming from his right elbow. He underwent an MRI on Monday and traveled to Los Angeles later in the week to visit with orthopedic surgeon Neal ElAttrache.
He’d posted a 2.66 ERA in 64 ⅓ innings, propping up an Arizona rotation and ballclub that otherwise has been a significant disappointment this season. Burnes has been one of the game’s most reliable starters since 2021, making between 28 and 33 starts and pitching 167 to 202 innings the past four seasons.
Now, Arizona must venture on without Burnes, saddled with a 31-31 record, 6 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and in fourth place in the NL West.
Burnes signed a six-year, $210 million contract with Arizona after one season in Baltimore, and won the 2021 NL Cy Young Award with the Milwaukee Brewers, when he led the major leagues with a 2.43 ERA.