Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Corbin Burnes will have Tommy John surgery next week, manager Torey Lovullo announced prior to Friday’s series opener with the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Burnes exited his start this past weekend with an elbow injury and tests this week revealed a UCL tear significant enough to require surgery.
“The news isn’t great. Corbin is going to have Tommy John surgery next week,” Lovullo said. “It was a lot of information, a lot of people weighed in on this, Corbin felt like this was the best decision for him to continue pushing forward. What does it mean, time-wise? I don’t have any idea. I just know sometime next week there’s gonna be a surgery that’s scheduled to be done by Dr. ElAttrache in L.A. and we’ll get him on the road to recovery.”
The broadcast caught Burnes saying what appeared to be “pop” after throwing his final pitch in his last start, and elbow pops usually lead to surgery. The D-backs put him on the injured list earlier this week with what the team originally called elbow inflammation, though it’s not uncommon for the inflammation to subside for a few days before a proper diagnosis can be reached.
“We were just hoping that was just an emotional, knee-jerk reaction … but it’s real,” Lovullo said about Burnes appearing to say “pop” in his last start. “I don’t have the exact diagnosis or exact details, I just know that Tommy John involves a ligament and it’s compromised and he needs to have the procedure. So 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.”
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These days Tommy John surgery comes with a 14-18 month rehab. The surgery ends Burnes’ 2025 season, his first in Arizona, and will cut into his 2026 as well. Sometime after the 2026 All-Star break is a decent estimate for the next time Burnes will be able to take the mound in a big-league game, though there is a lot of rehab and a long way to go between now and then.
“He seemed to be at peace with it,” Lovullo added. “No pitcher ever wants to go through something like this, but he seemed to understand why it happened and what he’s gonna have to do for the next 14, 18 months to get back on the field again.”
Burnes, 30, signed a six-year contract worth $210 million this past offseason. He reportedly turned down a $250 million offer from an AL East team because he wanted to be near his home in Arizona. Burnes instructed his agent, Scott Boras, to reach out to the D-backs to see whether a deal could be made, which is an unusual step for a free agent. The D-backs found a way to make it work.
Prior to the injury, Burnes had a 2.66 ERA with 63 strikeouts in 64 1/3 innings across 11 starts and was living up to his contract. He was one of the most durable starters in baseball the last few seasons, ranking sixth in starts (125) and fourth in innings (757) from 2021-24. Unfortunately, these days, “durable” often just means “hasn’t gotten hurt yet.”
It goes without saying that losing Burnes is a devastating blow both this year and next year. At the moment, Arizona’s rotation depth chart looks like this. It’s not great:
RHP Corbin Burnes(will miss the rest of 2025 with Tommy John surgery)- RHP Zac Gallen
- RHP Merrill Kelly
- LHP Eduardo Rodriguez
- RHP Brandon Pfaadt
LHP Jordan Montgomery(will miss 2025 with Tommy John surgery)- RHP Ryne Nelson
LHP Blake Walston(will miss 2025 with Tommy John surgery)- RHP Cristian Mena
- RHP Yilber Díaz
With Burnes injured, Kelly has been Arizona’s best healthy starter this season, and not by a little. He has a 3.43 ERA in 14 starts. Gallen, Pfaadt, and Rodriguez have combined for a 5.73 ERA in 35 starts. Overall, the D-backs rank 24th in starting pitcher ERA (4.45) and 23rd in starting pitcher WAR (2.5). That was with Burnes, too. Their rotation is in rough shape now.
It should be noted that Gallen, Kelly, and Montgomery will be free agents after the season. With Burnes hurt, Pfaadt and Rodriguez are the only locks for next season’s rotation. An injury of this magnitude affects how the D-backs will approach not only the trade deadline and the rest of this season but also the offseason and next year.
The D-backs made a dramatic ninth-inning comeback Thursday to clinch their fourth straight win. They are a .500 ballclub at 31-31. That puts them in fourth place and 6 ½ games back in the NL West. Arizona enters play Friday 3 ½ games out of a wild-card spot.