Patrick Corbin

BIOGRAPHY

Patrick Corwin Corbin was born on July 19, 1989, in Clay, New York. He is a pitcher in the MLB.

Scouts from every Major League Baseball (MLB) team evaluated Corbin prior to the 2009 MLB draft, including Tom Kotchman of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, a personal friend of Chipola's head coach. With Kotchman's recommendation, the Angels drafted Corbin in the second round of the draft, with the 80th overall selection. He was the first junior college player selected in the draft. On the day of the draft, Corbin played basketball with his roommate.

Corbin signed with the Angels, receiving a $450,000 signing bonus, foregoing his commitment to Southern Miss. 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 17 1⁄3 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. Corbin altered his approach, as he sought to pitch to contact. He began the 2010 season with the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Class A Midwest League. Corbin had an 8–0 record and 3.86 ERA, allowing 25 earned runs in 58 1⁄3 innings in nine starts for Cedar Rapids. He struck out 70 batters while allowing 78 hits and 20 walks. During the season, the Angels promoted Corbin to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the Class A-Advanced California League. With Rancho Cucamonga, Corbin had a 5–3 record and 3.88 ERA, allowing 26 earned runs in 60 1⁄3 innings in 11 starts. Combined, Corbin had a 3.87 ERA, 106 strikeouts, and 28 walks in 118 2⁄3 innings pitched with Cedar Rapids and Rancho Cucamonga.

At the trade deadline, Corbin was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks with 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 Mobile Bay Bears of the Class AA Southern League, he set a franchise record with 27 1⁄3 consecutive scoreless innings. He finished the season with a 9–8 win-loss record and 142 strikeouts in 160 1⁄3 innings pitched. His strikeout total led the Southern League, and Mobile won the league championship.

Corbin and the Diamondbacks agreed to a $7.5 million salary for 2018. Corbin started for the Diamondbacks on Opening Day in 2018. On April 17, against the San Francisco Giants, he threw 7+2⁄3 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.

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 the late 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 202.0 innings.

In Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, Corbin 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 3rd highest ever in a single MLB playoffs. Corbin won the 2019 Warren Spahn Award.

In 2022, his ERA of 6.31 was the worst among major league starting pitchers, and with his 6-19 record he led the NL in losses, while giving up a major-league-leading 210 hits in 152.2 innings, a major-league-leading 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%).