Eric Sorenson
Patrick Corbin’s early-season success has been catching the eye of quite a few people around the baseball world.
Add future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones to the list.
The former Braves third baseman described the D-backs lefty as “nasty” in a tweet sent out last week during Corbin’s seven-inning, three-hit shutout outing against Atlanta at Chase Field. It was the latest masterpiece in his 6-0 start. His ERA is a sparkling1.52 and he’s struck out 41 and walked 17 in 53.1 innings entering Monday’s start against Colorado.
“After the game [last Tuesday] I got a text from one of my buddies asking me to check his last re-tweet,” Corbin told Brad Cesmat in a recent interview on ‘Big Guy on Sports.’ “It’s pretty cool for [Jones] to say that, especially with the history he’s had…it’s definitely cool.”
What’s been cool for Diamondbacks fans has been watching the 23-year old Clay, New York native step up his game and become the team’s ace as Ian Kennedy and Brandon McCarthy try to hit their stride and Daniel Hudson continues his rehab from Tommy John surgery.
Just how dominant has Corbin been?
Following his performance against the Braves he became the first pitcher in franchise history to begin the season with eight consecutive starts going at least six innings with two or fewer runs allowed. Pretty impressive considering some the pitchers who preceded him in Arizona (Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Brandon Webb to name a few). The feat has only been accomplished three times in Major League Baseball history (Fernando Valenzuela in 1981, Kirk McCaskill in ’89, Ubaldo Jimenez in 2010).
Much of his success can be attributed to steady pitching coach Charles Nagy who’s advice and guidance have helped mold Corbin into a model of consistency on the mound this season.
“He’s awesome,” Corbin said to Cesmat describing Nagy. “He just tries to keep things simple. His thing is just trying to maintain mechanics and go out there and throw strikes. If I’m capable of doing that I think I can go out there and succeed.”
Corbin will look to build on his success Monday night against the Rockies at Coors Field.
