The Arizona Diamondbacks say Corbin Burnes’ shoulder issue isn’t serious, but that isn’t going to stop some from worrying about the nine-figure starting pitcher.
D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said Saturday that the team is scratching Burnes from his next start due to shoulder inflammation, per the Arizona Republic. He reportedly added the club is hopeful the 30-year-old Burnes can make his next scheduled start and will not require a trip to the 15-day IL.
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From the Republic:
“I think it had probably been a start or two that he had been expressing that and feeling (fatigue in his shoulder),” Lovullo said before the second game of a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies here May 3.
“We were with him. ‘What are you thinking? What do you want to do?’ He’s like, ‘I’m good, let me just keep going.’ At some point, we just all decided the best thing to do, to get ahead of it, is let’s examine it, get some imaging, pull back if we need to and let him potentially skip a start, and he should be good for the rest of the year.”
Burnes is one month into a six-year, $210 million contract he signed with Arizona last offseason, one of the largest deals any player signed in free agency. His results so far have not quite been the Cy Young-worthy numbers the D-Bbacks were likely hoping for.
His 3.58 ERA is above average and he’s thrown 32 2/3 innings in six starts, but he is vastly overperforming his 5.08 FIP and is on pace for career worsts in both strikeout rate (20.0%) and walk rate (12.1%). Even more concerning is that his strikeout rate had already decreased for five straight season before joining the D-backs, and his signature cutter is down from an average of 95.3 mph in 2024 to 93.9 mph in 2025.
Arizona will be hoping a) those issues will be fully attributable to his shoulder issue and b) that issue is merely a short-term problem. Otherwise, they will be facing a major headwind as they try to keep pace in the absurdly competitive NL West.
Despite holding a 17-15 record, making them one of eight teams above .500 in the NL, they entered Saturday in fourth place in their division, five games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.
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