Burnes Becomes the New Face of the D-backs with $210M Contract

Corbin Burnes and the D-backs have agreed to a six-year, $210 million contract, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Saturday. The deal includes an exit clause after 2026, but the D-backs have not announced the deal.

The headliner on this year’s free-agent pitching market was Burnes. The 30-year-old right-hander is a perennial Cy Young Award contender and was one of the American League’s best pitchers in his first season with the Orioles in 2024.

Barnes started 32 games, went 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA and 181 strikeouts in 194 1/3 innings pitched, earning him his fourth consecutive All-Star selection. He ranked fourth in the AL in ERA, third in innings pitched, fifth in wins, and 10th in strikeouts, behind Triple Crown winner Tarik Skubal and the Astros duo of Ronel Blanco and Framber Valdez.

Barnes, who won the 2021 NL Cy Young Award with the Brewers, came to Baltimore in a blockbuster trade between the Brewers and Orioles last February. Barnes was signed as a playoff contender’s ace and lived up to his reputation with the O’s.

By excelling in the AL as well as the NL, Barnes led the Orioles back to the playoffs as the AL’s top wild card team. Though the O’s were eliminated by the Royals in the Wild Card Series, Barnes was outstanding in his only postseason start, pitching eight innings with one run allowed in Game 1 against Kansas City.

Since becoming a starter for the first time in the 2020 season, Barnes has become one of the most dominant aces in baseball.

In four full seasons as a starter from 2021-2024, Barnes posted a 2.94 ERA and averaged 214 strikeouts per year. He won the MLB ERA title with a 2.43 ERA in his Cy Young season and won the NL strikeout title with a career-high 243 Ks in 2022, the second of three consecutive 200-strikeout seasons.

As of 2021, Barnes ranks second in MLB with 858 strikeouts, trailing only Dylan Cease (891). Among pitchers who have started at least 100 games during that span, Barnes’ 2.94 ERA is tied with Zack Wheeler for the second-lowest, with only Max Fried (2.87) bettering him. Barnes also has pitched the fourth-most innings (757) among starters since 2021. Only Aaron Nola (778 2/3), Logan Webb (761 1/3) and Wheeler (758 1/3) have pitched more.

During his time in Milwaukee, Barnes led the Brewers to the playoffs multiple times, but did the same with the Orioles last season. As a starter, he helped the Brewers reach the playoffs as a wild-card team in 2020 and as NL Central champions in 2021 and 2023. He was also a key member of Milwaukee’s bullpen when the team reached the NLCS as a rookie in 2018.

Barnes is a free agent for the first time in seven major league seasons. Drafted by the Brewers in the fourth round of the 2016 draft, Barnes has a 60-36 record with a 3.19 ERA and 1,051 strikeouts in 903 2/3 innings (10.5 K/9) in 199 career games (including 138 starts).