Patrick Corbin

Patrick Alan Corbin (born July 19, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, and Texas Rangers. He won the 2019 World Series with the Nationals, recording the win in Game 7.

At Cicero – North Syracuse High School, Corbin did not pitch for his high school's baseball team until his junior season. He played college baseball at Mohawk Valley Community College and Chipola College. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim chose Corbin in the second round of the 2009 MLB draft, and traded him to the Diamondbacks in 2010 as part of a package for Dan Haren.

Corbin made his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks in 2012 and was named an All-Star in 2013. He missed the 2014 season due to an injury to the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. Corbin returned to the Diamondbacks in 2015, but struggled and was removed from the starting rotation in 2016. After returning to the rotation in 2017, he started for the Diamondbacks on Opening Day in 2018. Corbin was named an All-Star for the second time in his career in 2018 before joining the Washington Nationals for the 2019 season.

Early life Patrick Alan Corbin was born on July 19, 1989, in Clay, New York. His father, Dan Sr., worked as a driver for a sausage company, while his mother, Patty, works as a nurse at a rehabilitation center for the elderly.

Corbin's father built a basketball court in his backyard for his children. As a child, Corbin identified basketball as his favorite sport. He played Pop Warner football, basketball in the Catholic Youth Organization, and Little League baseball. For baseball, Corbin was a fan of the New York Yankees. His father suggested that he sign up for the school's baseball team during his freshman year, but Corbin declined, preferring to play with his friends. Chipola reached the FJCAA/NJCAA Gulf District Tournament, but lost to Santa Fe College in the championship game. Corbin had a 1–0 record and a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings pitched during the tournament, resulting in his being named to the All-Tournament team.

Following the 2009 season, Corbin signed a letter of intent with the University of Southern Mississippi. With Kotchman's recommendation, the Angels drafted Corbin in the second round of the draft, with the 80th overall selection. On the day of the draft, Corbin played basketball with his roommate. Corbin pitched for the Orem Owlz of the Rookie-level Pioneer League in 2009, where Kotchman served as his manager. Corbin struggled in his first professional experience. In his first six appearances, five of them starts, he allowed 23 hits and 12 earned runs in innings, giving him a 6.23 ERA. Corbin later related that he attempted to strike out too many batters while pitching for Orem.

Baseball America ranked Corbin the Angels' 12th best prospect prior to the 2010 season, projecting him as a mid-rotation starting pitcher. Combined, Corbin had a 3.87 ERA, 106 strikeouts, and 28 walks in innings pitched with Cedar Rapids and Rancho Cucamonga.

At the trade deadline, Corbin was traded to the Diamondbacks with pitchers Joe Saunders, Rafael Rodríguez, and Tyler Skaggs for Dan Haren. The Diamondbacks assigned Corbin to the Visalia Rawhide of the California League. Corbin pitched to a 1.38 ERA in 26 innings with Visalia. In 2011, while pitching for the Double-A Mobile Bay Bears, he set a franchise record with consecutive scoreless innings. He finished the season with a 9–8 win–loss record and 142 strikeouts in innings pitched.

The Diamondbacks invited Corbin to spring training in 2012, where he pitched to a 0.57 earned run average. Corbin began the 2012 season with Mobile,

Arizona Diamondbacks (2012–2018) 2012: Major league debut

On April 30, 2012, the Diamondbacks promoted Corbin to the major leagues to start in place of Josh Collmenter, who was moved to the bullpen. Joe Martinez was optioned to the Reno Aces of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League to make room for Corbin on the roster. Corbin allowed three runs in innings in his MLB debut against the Miami Marlins, picking up the win. Corbin also had two sacrifice bunts and scored a run in the victory. The Diamondbacks again optioned Corbin to Reno in July so that he could continue to work as a starting pitcher when they activated Saunders off of the disabled list. The Diamondbacks recalled Corbin on August 1, displacing Josh Collmenter in the rotation. In 107 innings with the Diamondbacks, Corbin pitched to a 6–8 record and 4.54 ERA.

2013: All Star During the 2012–13 offseason, Corbin gained and added to his fastball. He won the National League (NL) Pitcher of the Month Award for May 2013, after he pitched to a 5–0 record and 1.53 ERA in five games started. Corbin was named an All-Star, as he had an 11–1 record with a 2.35 ERA, which was the third best in the NL at the All-Star break. Corbin was the eighth youngest player named an All-Star. He finished the season with a 3.41 ERA. However, Corbin felt arm tightness during a spring training start. An MRI revealed damage to his ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow. The Diamondbacks placed Corbin on the 15-day disabled list on March 30, and transferred him to the 60-day disabled list on April 4, in order to open a roster spot for Roger Kieschnick, who they claimed off waivers.

Corbin returned to the Diamondbacks on July 4, 2015. He made 16 starts for the Diamondbacks, pitching to a 6–5 record and a 3.60 ERA. Eligible for salary arbitration for the first time, Corbin and the Diamondbacks agreed to a $2.525 million salary for the 2016 season.

In 2016, Corbin pitched to a 4–12 record and a 5.58 ERA in 24 starts through mid-August, with a 7.68 ERA over his last nine starts. The Diamondbacks then demoted Corbin to work as a relief pitcher. He had a 2.70 ERA in innings as a relief pitcher, including 13 consecutive innings without allowing a run to end the year.

2017–2018: rotation regular In 2017, Corbin and the Diamondbacks agreed to a $3.95 million salary. Corbin returned to the starting rotation. He finished the 2017 season with a 4.03 ERA in innings pitched; his ERA during the final three months of the season was 2.90. Though the Diamondbacks made it to the 2017 National League Division Series, Corbin did not appear. Torey Lovullo, the team's manager, had decided Corbin would start Game 4, but the Diamondbacks were eliminated in three games. Corbin started for the Diamondbacks on Opening Day in 2018. On April 17, against the San Francisco Giants, he threw no-hit innings in a complete game shutout. He made the 2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, after pitching to a 6–3 record and a 3.05 ERA with 140 strikeouts in 112 innings.

Corbin finished the season 11–7 in 200 innings pitched across 33 starts. He had a 3.15 ERA and 246 strikeouts, which were both career bests. Corbin had the lowest zone percentage of all major league pitchers, with only 34.4% of his pitches being in the strike zone. He became a free agent after the season.

Washington Nationals (2019–2024) 2019: World Series winner On December 7, 2018, the Washington Nationals announced a six-year deal with Corbin worth $140 million.

On July 2, 2019, Corbin chose to wear number 45 in his start against the Miami Marlins to honor Tyler Skaggs, who died the day before. In 2019, he was 14–7 with a 3.25 ERA (8th in the NL) in 33 starts, in which he struck out 238 batters in 202 innings.

In the 2019 postseason, the Nationals used Corbin as both a starter and a reliever. He started three games and entered from the bullpen in five. He started Game 1 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers and pitched six innings, surrendering only one earned run, but recording the loss since the Nationals did not score. In Game 3, he came in for relief for the first time, but allowed six earned runs, recording only two outs. In the deciding Game 5, he finished the seventh inning and pitched one out of the eighth, allowing zero runs and zero hits. In Game 2 of the NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals, he pitched to one batter in the ninth inning. He started NLCS Game 4, recording the win in the Nationals' pennant-clinching victory.

In the 2019 World Series against the Houston Astros, Corbin relieved Max Scherzer in Game 1, pitching a scoreless sixth inning. Starting Game 4, he took the loss after giving up 4 runs over 6 innings. In Game 7, Corbin pitched the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, allowing no runs and just two hits. He was the winning pitcher, leading to the Nationals' first championship in franchise history. Corbin's 13.886 strikeouts per nine innings pitched in the 2019 playoffs was the third highest by a pitcher in a single MLB postseason. Corbin won the 2019 Warren Spahn Award.

2020–2024: struggles In 2020, Corbin was 2–7 with a 4.66 ERA and 60 strikeouts in innings pitched across 11 starts.

In 2021, Corbin had what was up to that point the worst season of his career. His ERA of 5.82 was the worst among qualified pitchers, and he led the National League in home runs allowed (37) and the majors in losses (16), earned runs allowed (111), and OPS against (.855). He gave up the most home runs per 9 innings pitched of all major leaguers, at 1.94.

In 2022, Corbin's 6.31 ERA was the worst among major league starting pitchers. With his 6–19 record, he led the NL in losses, while giving up a major-league-leading 210 hits in innings, a major league batting average against of .321, a major league slugging percentage against of .513, and gave up the highest percentage of hard-hit balls (39.9%).

In 2023, despite reaching 10 wins for the first time since 2019, Corbin led the NL in losses once again, pitching to a 10–15 record. Corbin finished the season with a slightly better ERA of 5.20, 124 strikeouts, and a batting average against of .293 over 180 innings pitched.

On August 22, 2024, Corbin recorded his 100th career win after pitching six innings and allowing just one run in a start against the Colorado Rockies. He made 32 starts for Washington during the campaign, compiling a 6-13 record and 5.62 ERA with 139 strikeouts across innings pitched.

Despite several years of struggles after the 2019 championship, Nationals players and executives held Corbin in high regard at the end of his tenure with the team, crediting his heroics during the World Series and durability during the subsequent years.

Texas Rangers (2025) On March 18, 2025, Corbin signed a one-year contract with the Texas Rangers, with a base salary of $1.1 million plus incentives based upon the number of appearances and innings pitched. Corbin was optioned to the Triple-A Round Rock Express on March 25 in order to build up stamina, after missing the majority of spring training. On April 4, Texas recalled Corbin after Jack Leiter was placed on the injured list. He made 31 appearances (30 starts) for the Rangers during the regular season, compiling a 7-11 record and 4.40 ERA with 131 strikeouts across innings pitched.

Toronto Blue Jays (2026–present) On April 3, 2026, Corbin signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays; he was subsequently assigned to the Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays. He was selected to the active roster after making one rehab start and made his debut for Toronto on April 10, 2026, against the Minnesota Twins. He had a 3.65 ERA in his first ten games started, before pitching to an 8.69 ERA over innings in June, leading the Jays to remove him from the starting rotation.

Scouting report Corbin is listed at and .

Corbin improved his changeup after pitching in Instructional League during the 2009–10 offseason, which led Corbin to consider it a better pitch than his slider. In 2011, he developed a knuckle curve, which he believes contributed to his consecutive scoreless innings streak. His usage of this pitch declined throughout his career until he began to throw it again during the 2024 season to offset hitters’ timing. They live in Phoenix, Arizona, during the offseason. The couple has two sons.

Corbin was friends with former teammate Tyler Skaggs, who died on July 1, 2019. They played rookie ball together as well as Class AA baseball. Skaggs was a groomsman in Corbin's wedding. On July 2, Corbin honored Skaggs by wearing 45 for a game against the Miami Marlins.

Corbin endorsed Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election by tweeting a picture of the two of them on a golf course captioned "#Vote #Trump2020."

During his time with the Nationals, Corbin and his wife made a six-figure contribution to the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy.