Patrick Corbin’s start on March 15 was supposed to be his last spring outing before heading to Australia for Arizona’s season-opening series against the Dodgers. It turned out to be his last start for at least a year.
Corbin left that game against the Indians in the middle of an at-bat during the 7th inning, and in the days following the outing it was announced that Corbin did indeed damage his ulnar collateral ligament, but was seeking a second opinion before having surgery. Corbin had a consultation with Dr. James Andrews on Monday, and underwent Tommy John surgery on Tuesday.
With the Diamondbacks having already played in two regular season games, the first ripple effects of the injury have already been seen: Wade Miley started the season opener, and Trevor Cahill took the ball in game two of the series Down Under. Arizona did have very good rotation depth before Corbin’s injury, so in all likelihood they’ll be fine without him.
While it’s never a good thing to lose a young pitching star on the rise, the injury does open a rotation spot for either Randall Delgado or Archie Bradley, both of whom are no strangers to top prospect lists over the past few years. Delgado started 19 games for the Diamondbacks last season, but had some problems with the home run ball, surrendering 24 in just 116.1 innings. Bradley has yet to pitch above Double-A, but put up a 1.97 ERA there as a 20-year-old, and it wouldn’t be crazy for Arizona to want a young pitcher who still needs to work on his command to skip the Pacific Coast League. As of a few days ago, the team hadn’t decided who would take the vacant spot in the rotation.
While the assumption is that Corbin will be ready to throw again in about a year, the Diamondbacks know better than to make assumptions with Tommy John recovery. This is, after all, the same team that’s seen Daniel Hudson need a second surgery while rehabbing the first last summer. Hudson hasn’t pitched in a major league game since June 2012.
