Major League Baseball player Corbin Burnes made headlines when he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Previously with the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles, for Burnes, it was a move that was well-thought-out. A free agent, his agent reached out to the D-backs to say he was interested. The interest was mutual and a deal was soon reached—and the rest is history.
The team was not only a great fit for Burnes, but it was also the best scenario for his family.
Here, he talks about his career, the Diamondbacks, living in Scottsdale, one thing most people don’t know about him, and more.
You’ve had an amazing career. What drew you to baseball to begin with?
Growing up, I played all kinds of sports and I just had more of a fascination with team sports. So when I got older, I stuck to baseball and golf, and then when it became time to make a decision, I had to go with the team sport in baseball over golf and I’m glad I did—look where I am now.
Favorite part of the game?
The favorite part of the game for me is kind of the mind games behind baseball—the pitcher and hitter matchups. I’ve learned to love it. It’s one of those things I do a lot of homework for on the back end—how to get guys out and how to get guys out multiple times.
So for me, kind of the joy in the game is facing guys multiple times, finding different ways to get guys out. It's more the mental side of it than anything.
You love pitching because …
I love pitching because of the art of getting guys out. It’s easy if you go out there and throw 105 to just to throw a fastball over and over again, so for me, being a guy who doesn’t throw quite as hard and has to mix up pitches, for me it’s fun to see how pitches work off each other and mix things up and get guys out in different avenues.
Family is important to you, which is why it’s been said that you were interested in being a D-back. Can you tell us about that?
So now, having three kids—three kids under 3, actually—you know, for me, family is everything. The last couple of years, moving around a lot between Milwaukee and Baltimore, the family kinda went places a little bit, but spent a lot of time here in Arizona. So, for me, once we had our twins—had kids two and three—it became even more important for me to make sure I was with them, to help my wife Brooke out, and to just be around the kids and help them grow up and kind of shape them into the people that we want them to be.
Favorite part of being a dad?
Gosh, just the little things. When I wake up and come to work every day, my son tells me, ‘Hey, Dad, drive safe. See you at home. When you get back from the baseball field, let’s play later.’ Just the small things that they want to include you in things.
Obviously, my girls are still a little small being 8 months old. They’re a few months away from speaking and being able to crawl around and do some stuff.
Just them wanting to include me in everything is fun.
You moved here before you were part of the team. What drew you and your wife to the Valley?
Yes, we both grew up in Bakersfield, California, so we’re kinda used to the heat and the hot summers, but just being out here and being close to baseball. Once I was drafted with Milwaukee our Spring Training was here, as well. It just made sense to be out here, to train out here.
The winter times, the offseasons out here are beautiful. You don’t have to worry about too much cold and the snow. So for us, being out here made sense.
We’ve lived all over the Valley now. We lived on the west side when we first came out here and now we’re up in Scottsdale on the east side, so we’ve kind of seen it all but just love being out here and how the offseasons are.
Any favorite places around Scottsdale?
We are pretty big foodies so we definitely hit a lot of restaurants around here. Some of our favorites are probably Buck & Rider, and there’s a new one that just opened up near the house called The Belmont [Kitchen & Cocktails].
I’m a big golfer, so I love a lot of the golf courses in that area. I obviously play TPC a lot, but just some of the smaller ones–the Grayhawks, The Boulders, some of those.
And I’m a big fisherman, as well, so being on the east side of town, we’ve got pretty close access to Lake Bartlett and Saguaro, as well. So I’m kind of all over the east side of the Valley now.
It’s only been a short time, but how has it been adjusting to the team and living full time in the Valley?
It’s been good. I’ve been fortunate to have most of my spring trainings out here in Arizona, so as far as Spring Training goes, it’s been pretty similar. We’ll really see the differences once the season starts.
But it’s a great group of guys. I saw that from across the field the last couple of years, just how good this young group of players was, and being able to join them and hopefully get back to the World Series is the main goal. Living here year-round, not having to move around places, being with the family more, there’s a lot of pluses of being here.
Favorite part of being a D-back now?
I’m still getting to know a lot of the guys. Being a part of a rotation with Zack Zac and Merrill, and some of the young guys that we have coming up, we’ve got some exciting young players with Corbin Carroll, [Geraldo] Perdomo, who just signed an extension to be here for a long time. Just the young, exciting players, and the veteran guys around the team, just getting to know them and being around this group is special.
We know the ultimate goal is to win the World Series. Do you have any other goals, whether personal or professional?
I would say team, personal, professional, everything—the one goal I have now is to get to the World Series and win the World Series.
I’ve been fortunate enough in my career to have had a lot of success. I’ve been to the All-Star Game many times. I won a Cy Young, and I’ve led the league in strikeouts. I’ve done a lot of cool things on the personal side of it. So, the personal goal I have is also the team goal, which is to get to the World Series and win the World Series.
One thing we’d be surprised to learn about you?
I think I shared a little bit ago but the most surprising thing is that a lot of the guys don’t know I like to fish. A lot of guys know I like to golf and I’m pretty decent at golf, but for me, if I could pick anything, it would be going out to fish. Just getting out on the boat, where it’s quiet, you’re by yourself, it’s peaceful—four or five hours out on the boat just flying around the lake trying to catch a fish, for me is pretty fun and something I don’t think a lot of people know.
"I love pitching because of the art of getting guys out."
"We are pretty big foodies so we definitely hit a lot of restaurants around here."