Orioles Acquire Corbin Burnes from Brewers

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

February 1, 2024

With spring training looming, the Baltimore Orioles made a blockbuster trade with the Milwaukee Brewers for right-hander Corbin Burnes. The trade, which was completed on Thursday evening, was first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Orioles will be getting one of the best pitchers in baseball. The Brewers, meanwhile, will receive a package of prospects in return. Those prospects include shortstop Joey Ortiz and left-hander DL Hall, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The Brewers will also get a 2024 Competitive Balance Round A Draft pick from the Orioles.

Plenty of Strikeouts

Corbin Burnes started 32 games for the Brewers last season. He held a 3.39 ERA with 200 strikeouts in 193 2/3 innings. The 29-year-old righty earned the National League Cy Young award in 2021, when he struck out 234 batters in 167 innings and maintained a league-leading 2.43 ERA. He is slated to be a free agent at the end of the 2024 season.

Burnes was selected by the Brewers in the fourth round of the 2016 June Amateur Draft. He made his major league debut for them in 2018, where he held a perfect 7–0 record out of the bullpen. Prior to the 2023 season, the Brewers offended Burnes during his arbitration hearing, spurring speculation that the disgruntled right-hander would demand a trade. However, he stayed through the rest of the season.

Burnes is set to earn $15.6 million before hitting free agency. He’s coming off another strong season in which he posted a WHIP of 1.069. Corbin Burnes has finished in the top eight in NL Cy Young voting in each of the last four seasons and was an All-Star in each of the last three. He owns the second-highest fWAR among starting pitchers (17.3) over the last four campaigns. Burnes also holds the fourth-lowest ERA behind Justin Verlander, Max Fried, and Clayton Kershaw over that stretch.

A Pair of Prospects

The other pieces in the trade have performed nicely. The 25-year-old Ortiz slashed .321/.378/.507 with nine home runs, 30 doubles, and 11 strikeouts in 88 games in Triple-A last season. He posted a .448 OPS in 15 games at the major league level. Ortiz played third base, second base, and shortstop in 2023.

The 25-year-old Hall posted a 3.26 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 19 1/3 relief innings with the Orioles last season. He also threw 49 innings in Triple-A, where he recorded a 4.22 ERA and 70 strikeouts. The move comes days after the Orioles were purchased for $1.7 billion by a group of private equity partners, including Baltimore businessman David Rubenstein and Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken Jr.