Diamondbacks' Corbin Burnes set to unleash top pitches vs. Yankees' new bats
Everybody wants to talk about the Yankees’ new bats after they smashed home runs at a rate that would make the great Bambino tip his cap.
But what if Corbin Burnes uses his cutter on April 1 to keep them swinging and missing so much that the “torpedo bats” don’t create much advantage for the Bronx Bombers?
Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo explained just how hard it is to hit his new star’s signature pitch.
“It’s like swatting a fly — with your hand,” Lovullo said.
'That's the pitch'
Burnes is set to make his Diamondbacks debut against New York at Yankees Stadium after a minor controversy that saw him skip the Chicago Cubs series to maintain his meticulous pitching schedule.
As Arizona was going 2-2 against the Cubs, the Yankees were treating the Brewers like Stone Cold Steve Austin treats a beer can. New York tied an MLB record with 15 home runs in their first three games of the season.
The hype about the bats might be a bit overblown.
Aaron Judge uses a traditional bat, and he hit four home runs during the Yankees’ opening series. And the Yanks aren’t the only team swinging sticks with an enhanced barrel, as designed by an MIT egghead. The Cubs had a couple of guys swinging them, too. (They combined for one home run on 28 at-bats.)
The hype about Burnes, though, is hard to overstate.
Since 2021, he’s been one of the best pitchers in the sport, finishing in the top 10 of Cy Young voting each of the past five seasons with four consecutive All-Star selections. One year, he led the National League in ERA. Another year, he led the NL in strikeouts. Another year, he led the league in WHIP.
It’s mostly thanks to the cutter.
“That’s the pitch that’s gotten me where I’ve been the last couple of years,” Burnes said.
'Growing up, I didn’t throw a cutter'
Burnes developed his cutter during the pandemic. He had been struggling along in his career and was looking to refine his arsenal when the lockdown started. By the time he was able to get back with his pitching coaches with Milwaukee, he had a new weapon, and things have been trending up ever since.
He basically took a weakness and made it into his strength.
“When I was growing up, I didn’t throw a cutter,” he said recently in the Diamondbacks’ clubhouse. “I threw a fastball and a curveball and that was it.”
But it turned out his fastball had some cutting action that he wasn’t trying to put on the pitch.
“I tend to move the ball left pretty well,” the right-hander said.
To picture it, a fastball comes straight in. Power, speed and precision are the main factors that make it hard to hit.
Burnes’ cutter comes in almost as fast, but it bites and goes left at the last second.
“Gotta be careful with a cutter,” Lovullo said.
As a player, it was the hardest pitch for him to hit.
“It’s got late, firm movement,” Lovullo said. “The speed does not decrease in the hitting zone.”
It’s not something everyone can throw.
“It comes in, and it’s like a lane change from a little old lady from Pasadena who’s driving … it’s gonna get squared up,” Lovullo said.
He was talking with his hands for emphasis and showing how a pitch could meander carefully through the strike zone like a safe driver going from the on-ramp to the carpool lane.
“But if it’s a Corbin Burnes-type, and it’s picking up speed in the hitting zone and at the last minute, it does that,” Lovullo said, mimicking a sharp, dangerous multilane change from an unsupervised Scottsdale teenager behind the wheel of his dad’s Corvette.
“We all know what that feels like,” Lovullo said.
He added a metaphor for emphasis.
“It’s like trying to catch a fly,” he said. “You think you’ve got it one second, and it’s right there. And all of the sudden, it takes off.”
If that sounds like bad news for the Yankees or any other opposing hitters, it gets worse.
'That's always a pretty good feeling'
The cutter isn’t Burnes’ favorite pitch to throw. He’s been working on his changeup.
“For me,” Burnes said, “when I can get some good swings and misses to lefties with the changeup, that’s kind of the pitch I’ve had to work the hardest on.
“When I get some good swings and misses on the changeup, that’s always a pretty good feeling for me.”
Now, we just have to see how it all works against those new bats.
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