Diamondbacks ace Corbin Burnes was wearing a look of grave concern on his face. He knew something was wrong — his elbow was not right — and so after throwing a pitch, he motioned toward the dugout. It turned out to be his last pitch of the year.
It was part of a recurring theme for the Diamondbacks last season — a top player walking off the field with a trainer by his side, bound for a lengthy stay on the injured list. The injuries were a major contributor to one of the more disappointing seasons in franchise history.
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And now the time has come to find out if those same injuries will derail a second consecutive Diamondbacks season.
It is a sort of baseball axiom that the roster a team takes into Opening Day — which, for the Diamondbacks this year, is Thursday evening, March 26, at Dodger Stadium — is never the one it has come September. But it feels particularly poignant for this team this season.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
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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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
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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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Nolan Arenado (28) rounds the bases after hitting a home run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela (49) in the second inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Gabriel Moreno (14) bats against the Colorado Rockies in the fourth inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Alek Thomas (5) runs to second base after hitting a double against the Colorado Rockies in the second inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
D. Baxter the Bobcat, the Arizona Diamondbacks mascot, signs autographs during the spring training season opener against the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Nolan Arenado (28) reacts after hitting a home run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela (49) in the second inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
The Arizona Diamondbacks take the field against the Colorado Rockies during the spring training season opener at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Nolan Arenado (28) hits a home run over Colorado Rockies left fielder Zac Veen (13) in the second inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
The Salt River Pima – Maricopa Indian Community traditional dancers perform at the Arizona Diamondbacks spring training season opener at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Nolan Arenado (28) hits a home run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela (49) in the second inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Nolan Arenado (28) hits a home run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela (49) in the second inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
A fan and her dog cheer for the Arizona Diamondbacks during the spring training season opener against the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks center fielder Alek Thomas (5) signs autographs during the spring training season opener against the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Colorado Rockies pitcher Juan Mejia (47) throws to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the third inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Fans watch the action on the left field lawn as the Colorado Rockies host the Arizona Diamondbacks during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Andrew Hoffmann (56) throws to the Colorado Rockies in the second inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Nolan Arenado (28) reacts after hitting a home run off Colorado Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela (49) in the second inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks center fielder Alek Thomas (5) catches a fly ball from Colorado Rockies’ Edouard Julien (6) in the second inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
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Top photos from Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2026 spring training
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Philip Abner (50) takes the mound against the Colorado Rockies in the third inning during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 20, 2026, in Scottsdale.
Diamondbacks will see help coming soon
Sometime in the middle of April, the Diamondbacks likely will welcome back left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. from the injured list. Perhaps by early June, left-hander A.J. Puk will join the team. A month or so later, Burnes should be back. After that, right-hander Justin Martinez could follow.
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All suffered devastating injuries last season — Burnes, Puk and Martinez hurt their elbows, Gurriel his knee — with recoveries that dragged into the next calendar year.
All are potentially difference-making players, so much so that it is reasonable to wonder where expectations belong in their absence. Can the Diamondbacks hang around the playoff picture until their roster is closer to full strength? It might be the question that defines their season.
“We’re going to get a new player every month for the first four or five months,” reliever Paul Sewald said. “Our team is going to look a lot different in the second half of the season than it does right now.
“We’ve got to tread some water. We’ve got to put ourselves in a position where it feels like those guys are deadline acquisitions, and then if we make another one, it really feels like it makes a splash.”
Arizona Diamondbacks Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (right) during spring training workouts at Salt River Fields on Feb. 13, 2026, in Scottsdale.
There are potential issues with this approach. Some players never return to their old form after major surgery. And of those who do, some do not do so immediately. Pitchers are notorious, for example, for needing extended time on the mound before they feel like themselves.
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Burnes hears this and nods. It has been front of mind for him since he had Tommy John surgery in June. He has heard anecdotally that a pitcher’s command is the last thing to return, which is why every time he has played catch during his rehab he has not worried about how hard or nasty his pitches are.
“It’s strictly commanding the baseball,” Burnes said. “My priority in catch-play every day, flat-ground, the bullpens, is strictly on command, not about the spin numbers, the velocity. I know that will be there just from the work we put in.”
Once ready, Burnes will rejoin a rotation that includes, in an upset, right-handers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, both of whom re-signed with the club in the offseason. Kelly signed first, in December, with Gallen re-upping in February, when the club’s ownership group decided to stretch its payroll once again. The rotation mix also includes newcomer Michael Soroka and bounce-back hopefuls Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez.
Kelly will open the season on the injured list as he builds up after a back injury slowed his spring. The club will navigate its rotation surplus at a later date, though Soroka could be the most likely option to shift to the bullpen.
Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (2) reacts after scoring on an RBI-double by Nolan Arenado (28) in the first inning on Feb. 25, 2026, at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale.
The talent is clear: Diamondbacks good enough to contend
The second half of last year provides some optimism and possible momentum. The injuries left the Diamondbacks with little choice but to sell at the deadline, but in the two months that followed, they wound up playing their best baseball of the season. They played a cleaner, more fundamental style.
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But they also leaned on the top four players in their lineup — the same ones manager Torey Lovullo will pencil in near the top every day, in some order, this year: right fielder Corbin Carroll, second baseman Ketel Marte, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo and catcher Gabriel Moreno. All four were highly productive, carrying an OPS north of .800 – and, in Perdomo and Carroll’s cases, north of .900 — but the production did not stop there.
“The guys behind me were just doing their jobs,” Carroll said. “It just kind of felt like keeping the line moving. It took contributions from the top down.”
That Marte is back counts as a mild surprise after his name featured prominently in offseason trade rumors. Team officials have said they felt compelled to explore whether Marte could fetch a franchise-altering return. Once that did not materialize, they took his name off the market — to the relief of some teammates.
“If he’s not the best player we have, he’s one of the best,” Perdomo said. “Everybody knows what he can do at the plate. It’s very important for us to have this guy back.”
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It is an identity the Diamondbacks will look to recapture this year. They would also not mind seeing youngster Jordan Lawlar, now an outfielder, stay healthy and produce as they envisioned when they took him sixth overall in the 2021 draft.
The bullpen, as it seems always to be for this franchise, is a concern. Coming off a season in which they led the league with 29 blown saves, the Diamondbacks made only modest additions in the offseason. They will be hoping for a return to form from Sewald, a healthy year from non-roster invitee Jonathan Loaisiga, bouncebacks/more consistency from Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson.
They also would love a breakout from one of their young arms — Juan Morillo, Brandyn Garcia, Andrew Hoffmann, et al.
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Paul Sewald during spring training workouts at Salt River Fields on Feb. 16, 2026, in Scottsdale.
There is another major obstacle for them as they wait for the injured-list cavalry to arrive: the calendar. Seven of their first 11 series come against clubs that reached the postseason last year. Three of the remaining four are against teams pushing to contend.
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“I think being realistic,” Carroll said, “if you can get out of that stretch and survive, then that, in a sense, is a win.”
Said Burnes: “If we can get through that and be in a good spot come May, when, hopefully Gurriel and Puk come back, I think we can be in a really good spot. It’s not ideal having all of us hurt with the toughest portion of the schedule being April, but that’s kind of how it goes.”
Three years ago, the Diamondbacks surprised everyone with a run to the World Series. They have missed the playoffs each of the following two years. They are hoping to recapture that 2023 magic.
“Fifteen players are on this team that played in that World Series,” said owner Ken Kendrick, the Diamondbacks’ managing general partner. “Well, that would make you think we have some very talented guys. And we have some other players that weren’t there that are highly talented to add to them. Our chances to compete are, I think, good. Obviously, you got to go do it.
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“The injury factor is always out there. It certainly was a factor last year. You would hope that, the way injury works, you have some good luck. I’ll always remember: In my 25 years of doing this, there’s always a year, one year in 25, that had the least amount of injuries. Probably some of you know what year that was: 2001. Isn’t that amazing? So injuries are a factor.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The 2026 Diamondbacks can be contenders with Burnes, others