Corbin Burnes strikes out side in Diamondbacks spring training debut

SCOTTSDALE — Diamondbacks starter and highly coveted free agent addition Corbin Burnes struck out the side to begin his Arizona tenure in Friday’s Cactus League opener against the Colorado Rockies.

Burnes requested to start the first game of the spring, and he sat down Rockies hitters Brenton Doyle, Kyle Farmer and Ryan McMahon in order on 16 pitches — nine of which were cutters.

Farmer’s at-bat was particularly eventful, as D-backs catcher Gabriel Moreno challenged a ball call, which was overturned for strike three using the automated ball-strike (ABS) system MLB is testing out during spring training.

Burnes threw one inning as he builds up for the regular season, but he gave a healthy crowd at Salt River Fields a show to begin the 2025 campaign.

“I like to get in early, get an extra outing in an actual game in camp,” Burnes said of wanting to pitch first. “For me, just the more times I can get on the mound in a game situation, the more comfortable I can feel and the better feel I can get for the season as far as getting everything moving and pitches working.

“It’s gonna take two or three for me to feel like I’ve got everything in control. We were in the zone, which is good — always good to start with — so now it’s kind of working more to the edge of the zone.”

Burnes said he felt a bit ahead of schedule with his command and stuff.

The right-hander has thrown in the first game of camp over the past couple years, an adjustment after not feeling his sharpest the previous Opening Day.

His first couple outings are more focused on feel and getting back into the gameday routine, he described.

Corbin Burnes on wanting to get the first start of spring training: pic.twitter.com/ov7GxTAQEg

— Alex Weiner (@alexjweiner) February 21, 2025

“Once you get out to three innings is when you can start to kind of mix different pitches, work different sequences in,” Burnes said. “Where I’m at feel-wise today, bullpens, everything has felt pretty good.”

The Diamondbacks inked Burnes to a six-year deal worth $210 million over the offseason — with an opt-out after 2026 — a move that stunned the baseball community given the lack of noise and how quickly a deal came together.

Burnes joins the D-backs as a four-time All-Star and 2021 Cy Young award winner, giving Arizona a daunting top end of the rotation with Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly.

Corbin Burnes working with Gabriel Moreno

Beyond Moreno’s challenge savvy, Burnes was complimentary of his battery mate in their first in-game experience.

They will continue to build chemistry leading up to the regular season, and Burnes explained that process further:

“I know the coaches talked to him a lot about the kind of sequencing I do, we’ve talked about it a little bit,” Burnes said. “These first couple I get with him, I’m leaving it completely up to him. I just want to see what he does back there, how he sees my pitches working against hitters, and then for me, that gives me understanding of where he’s at. Then I can make some small tweaks after that. I thought today he did a great job.

“It’s a process. It’s going to take multiple weeks to get on the same page. But today, I definitely liked what I saw.”

Manager Torey Lovullo echoed that sentiment, saying the most important thing is “they start to understand what’s going on in each other’s mind. That process takes time.”

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Corbin Burnes strikes out the first three batters he faces in a @dbacks uniform pic.twitter.com/o9ARA0Qa1w

— Reno Aces (@Aces) February 21, 2025

Diamondbacks get first ABS look

When asked whether he liked the ABS challenge system, Burnes said “today was great” but ask him again next time. Moreno started off 2-for-2 on challenges.

On the other side, Colorado’s Greg Jones in the ninth inning successfully challenged two strike calls to work a walk.

MLB has tested the technology out in Triple-A and will do so again in 2025. It is not coming to the big leagues this year, but MLB will analyze data and feedback from spring training to evaluate its future plans.

“I think we’re still so far off from having it in in the regular season, just talking to the guys in the minor leagues that have used it in the past, there’s still some issues that gotta be figured out,” Burnes said. “Giving it a small sample run here in spring training will give them an idea of what bugs still need to be straightened out.”

Teams get two challenges per game and retain them if correct. The batter, pitcher or catcher can tap their head to draw a challenge, and the pitch location will show up on the video board. The whole process takes an average of 17 seconds, not a drawn-out process like on-field challenges can be.

“I think it would be cool to see it in the big leagues,” outfielder Alek Thomas, who has experience with ABS, said postgame. “It might change games too, because you might have a pitch later on in the game and you lost all your challenges. So yeah, we’ll see.”

Lovullo said his only instruction to players is they better be “damn sure” they are right.

The Diamondbacks will play the most games this spring with ABS (29), which adds a new dynamic for veteran players and fan engagement.

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