Corbin Burnes pushed off from the mound and fired a pitch to the catcher. He then licked his fingers and raised his glove.
That is to say: Burnes looked — and felt — like himself again on Friday, March 13, in what was his first bullpen session since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year.
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“It couldn’t have really gone better,” Burnes told The Arizona Republic. “It was good.”
It was only 15 pitches — all cut fastballs and sinkers — but Burnes had a couple of data points about which he could feel encouraged.
First, there was his velocity. He was up to 91 mph, which he said is right in line with where his velocity typically was in bullpen sessions before he underwent surgery in June. If anything, he expected the team’s training staff to tell him he was throwing a little harder than they would like at this point in his rehab process.
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Arizona Diamondbacks Jordan Lawlar catches a fly ball during spring training workouts at Salt River Fields on Feb. 13, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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But that wasn’t front of mind for Burnes. Instead, he was more locked in on his command.
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“Obviously, we put so much work into the shoulder strength and elbow strength that we know the velocity is going to show,” he told The Republic. “I think the fact that we threw 15 pitches and probably had 13 strikes — that’s what I’m looking at.”
Burnes said he was told the movement on his cutter and sinker were in line with how the pitches normally moved. His focus, he said, is on making sure the pitches go where he wants.
“I want to come back and have the command where I want it to be,” he said.
And thus begins what Burnes, who is hoping to return from the injured list in July, expects will be a maddening portion of his recovery. Twice a week for the foreseeable future, he will throw bullpen sessions. He doesn’t expect to start facing hitters for perhaps months.
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“For a guy who wants to be competing, now that you’ve got a taste of being out on the mound, this is probably going to feel pretty dragged out,” he said.
He added: “At this point now, it’s slowly and steadily increasing the load on the arm. At some point here in the next week or two, you start mixing in some breaking balls and stuff. Now is the process of trying to get everything built up. Stressing the arm with the breaking ball and all that. Once you get all the stress of the breaking balls, you start to stress it with volume of pitches. Then you start a rehab assignment and get going.”
Burnes, 31, is in the second year of a six-year, $210 million deal. He performed well before going down, logging a 2.66 ERA in 11 starts.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks’ Corbin Burnes takes big step in recovery process