Corbin Burnes Out for the Season | Fantasy Baseball Outlook for Other Arizona Pitchers, Including Ryne Nelson and Brandon Pfaadt

There hasn't been a ton of fantasy baseball injuries to star players yet this season.

A big one was announced on Friday night though, as Corbin Burnes was ruled out for the season. He will have Tommy John surgery.

Let's discuss what that injury means for fantasy owners and players involved.

Fantasy baseball injury news can be accessed all season on FantasySP.

Burnes' Stats

Burnes has been one of the top fantasy pitchers in the game over the past several seasons. He was taken at pick 24.39 on average this season, so this is a major blow for his fantasy owners.

Burnes was in the first year of a new long-term deal with the Diamondbacks, but is in his eighth MLB season overall. He has a career 3.15 earned run average over 149 starts and 210 total appearances.

Burnes made 11 starts for Arizona this season. He was turning in another strong year, with a 3-2 record and 2.66 ERA over 64 1/3 innings.

The righty allowed 23 runs (19 earned) on 49 hits and 26 walks, while striking out 63 batters. His WHIP and walks per nine innings were up, while his strikeouts per nine innings were down. Burnes was still delivering good fantasy results though.

Burnes' Fantasy Outlook

With Burnes out for the season, he can be safely dropped in all redraft leagues. There's no point in holding him any longer in those leagues.

Hopefully, you drafted well outside Burnes. His absence is definitely going to hurt fantasy teams, but some might be able to still be good without him. You could stream starting pitchers until you land on someone who can stick on your roster.

Burnes should be held in dynasty/keeper leagues. Hopefully you have an IR spot you can throw him on, because he's likely to miss at least the next year, and maybe even longer.

He is 30 years old, so he should have some gas left in the tank, even after he returns from the injury. Dynasty/keeper teams who are trending toward rebuilding could look to trade Burnes. Although his value is down now, he's still valuable enough to net you some future assets.

Contending dynasty/keeper teams could look to scoop Burnes up for cheaper now that he's injured. You'll still have to give up some future assets, but Burnes is a good enough fantasy asset to take that gamble on.

Diamondbacks to Target in Fantasy

With Burnes out the remainder of the season, that opens a spot in the team's starting rotation.

Right now, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez and Ryne Nelson will make up the rotation. Those guys, plus Burnes, lead the D-Backs in games started this season.

Gallen and Kelly are veterans who have been there and done that. Gallen is having the better fantasy season over Kelly by a good margin, but Gallen is owned in 91% of fantasy leagues to 89% for Kelly. If you are replacing Burnes with another D-Back, these are the two pitchers you should be considering first.

Pfaadt is at 72% rostered right now. He's got a 5.51 ERA after some rough starts of late. While Burnes being out helps Pfaadt's chances of sticking in the rotation, the team might be losing patience with the 26-year-old and either put him on the IL or yank him from the rotation.

Rodriguez just got back from the IL himself. He's got a 7.05 ERA this season across nine starts. He's at 12% rostered right now, but needs better results for that number to go up.

Nelson is at 14% owned at the moment. He's made three starts across 13 appearances and has a strong 3.43 ERA so far. Nelson is definitely trending up after the injury to Burnes, as he should have a spot in the rotation now. He is starting for the team on Sunday against the Reds, so he's a good streaming option in that contest.

Should some members of the MLB starting rotation struggle, or get injured themselves, the Diamondbacks have several other options they could turn to.

Cristian Mena is in the big leagues, but is working as a long reliever out of the bullpen right now. He made nine Triple-A starts this season, and could be next in line if the D-Backs need help in their rotation. He's the team's No. 13 prospect.

Tommy Henry is up to 10 starts at Triple-A, while Yilber Diaz and Bryce Jarvis are each at eight AAA starts. Those three guys are already on the 40-man roster, so they could also join the MLB starting rotation if a need arises.

Diaz is the team's No. 5 prospect, and has appeared in 31 1/3 MLB innings between 2024-25.

Yu-Min Lin has seven Triple-A starts under his belt. He's the team's No. 11 prospect, but still needs to be added to the 40-man roster.

Final Thoughts

The loss of Burnes is a huge blow for fantasy owners and the Diamondbacks in real life.

Fantasy owners will likely need to stream Burnes' old roster spot, and they aren't likely to get nearly as much production from those guys as they would have gotten from Burnes.

The Diamondbacks haven't had a very good rotation in 2025, so to lose the best pitcher from that bunch is only going to make matters worse. 

Gallen and Kelly will need to guide the otherwise inexperienced and floundering rotation. Pfaadt is trending down, while Rodriguez is hoping to find his groove after a stint on the IL. Nelson should be locked into the rotation now, and is a pitcher to keep a very close eye on.

Others are likely to enter the rotation at times over the remainder of the season, and FantasySP will cover those guys in waiver stories or streaming articles when necessary.