Washington Nationals: Patrick Corbin’s path to D.C.

The Draft, the Trade, and the Opportunity

The Los Angeles Angels did not know it at the time, but they knocked their 2009 draft out of the park. They drafted Patrick Corbin with the 80th overall selection and some guy named Mike Trout earlier with the 25th pick.

However, Corbin’s stay in LA was not long. A year later, the Angles included him in a trade to acquire Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the middle of the 2010 season. At the time of the trade, Corbin pitched for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the Angles class A advanced team at the time.

Currently, the Quakes are part of the Dodgers’ farm system. Prominent names the Quakes have fielded include Trout, Walker Buehler, Cody Bellinger, Yasiel Puig, Corey Seager, and the Nationals’ own Howie Kendrick.

In 2012, Corbin got an invite to Spring Training from the Diamondbacks. He pitched well enough to get called up at the end of April.

In his first start, Corbin was one out away from a quality start and one pitch away from 100. He recorded six strikeouts and earned the pitchers win. As they say, the rest is history.