Corbin Burnes and Gabriel Moreno Have Great First Start Together for D-backs

The star pitcher and Gold Glove catcher begin their work as a battery with great success

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Corbin Burnes during spring training workouts at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Feb. 18, 2025, in Scottsdale. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Arizona Diamondbacks' newest frontline starter Corbin Burnes made his Cactus League debut for the team on Friday, throwing to Gold Glove catcher Gabriel Moreno, with outstanding results.

Facing the Colorado Rockies, Burnes threw a dominant inning, striking out the side. He threw 16 pitches, 12 for strikes. Of the 10 swings against him, two were whiffs, and eight were foul balls.

While his sinker and cutter velocity were down about two MPH from last year, for the first game of spring that is hardly an issue. In all, he utilized all five of his pitches including a sinker, cutter, slider, curveball and changeup.

A big highlight of the inning were two successful challenges by catcher Gabriel Moreno, utilizing the new ABS challenge system MLB is trying out this spring.

The first one came on a 1-2 pitch against Kyle Farmer that was initially ruled a ball. It was overturned on review, leading to a called strike three. The second came on a 1-0 pitched called a ball to Sean Bouchard that was reversed to a strike.

It was Moreno's idea to execute the challenges.

"That was him," Burnes said. "I think he was a little hesitant. He looked at me like, should I do it? Go ahead, you're the one catching it right there. You know the zone better than I do."

He was very happy with how the challenge system worked in his favor today. "As of today, I liked the ABS, ask me about it next time."

Burnes said it's important for him to get in a game early and get an extra outing in spring training.

"I can't remember which camp it was, maybe 2021 or 2022. I was limited to four, I think. Just kind of slow working in. Just didn't quite feel ready going into opening day that year. And took a couple to kind of feel like my legs are underneath me and kind of spinning things well. So for me, I'd rather err on the side of getting the games a little bit too early," Burnes said.

Burnes was satisfied to be in the zone and throwing strikes. He seemed a little bit ahead in terms of command of his pitches.

"We were in the zone, which is good, always good to start with. So now it's kind of working more way to the edge of the zone, a little bit too over the middle of the plate. Especially to [Brenton] Doyle there in the first, but the next two hitters were good."

Burnes has always had great natural movement on the cutter, something he isn't able to explain perfectly. "I get asked all the time, how do you throw a cutter, and I say, I don't know. Just I don't know fastball, and it just happens to cut. So I guess, gifted that the ball moves left, I thought."

The star pitcher also had praise for his catcher, who he's still learning about how to get on the same page with.

"So me and Gabi are still kind of in that learning process. We're kind of learning each other. I know the coaches have talked to him a lot about kind of the sequencing that I do."

To get the ball rolling however, Burnes wanted to let Moreno control the pace and sequencing.

"These first couple that I get to go with him, I'm leaving it completely up to him. I'm just gonna kind of see what he does back there, how he sees my pitches working against hitters. And then for me, that gives me kind of understanding where he's at, and then I can make some small tweaks after that."

"I thought today he did a great job, just mixing things up, going in and out, mixing all my pitches in. So like I said, it's a process that's gonna take multiple weeks to kind of get on the same page, but today I definitely like what I saw back there."

The Arizona Diamondbacks and their fans can only be encouraged by the work they saw from the battery mates. It's a small first step in their relationship, but a crucial one they can build on.