Mike Burrows continues to make strong case to hold rotation spot
Burrows tosses five shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners.
It may be easy to forget that Mike Burrows was the best pitching prospect in the Pirates’ system not too long ago.
Paul Skenes would eventually come along. Add in the emergence of Jared Jones and Bubba Chandler, which didn’t do Burrows any favors, on top of the Tommy John surgery that would force him to miss most of 2023, eventually working back last year.
Back healthy, Burrows made his major league debut to close out 2024, picking up a win in relief against the New York Yankees.
After starting the year in Triple-A, Burrows has made the jump to the majors as a starter and is continuing his case to hold down one of the five rotation spots going forward.
Facing the Seattle Mariners on the road, Burrows tossed five shutout innings, allowing three hits and four walks, striking out six.
He was able to lower his ERA to 3.63 on the season and now has 41 strikeouts over 39.2 innings pitched.
It’s his change-up that continues to make the difference for him, throwing it 21 times on Saturday and getting seven whiffs on 11 swings (64%). Over half of the change-ups he threw were either a called strike or a whiff (52 CSW%).
While his fastball hasn’t missed many bats, it’s shown strong characteristics, especially against Seattle. At the least, if he wasn’t going to miss bats, he generated a lot of weak contact against it (.046 xwOBA Contact).
One of the two whiffs he did get with the fastball was because the hitter was thinking change-up and was way late to catch the heater.
Burrows has been fantastic over his last three outings, allowing just one run on seven hits and six walks while striking out 12 over 11.2 innings pitched. He had an ERA of 2.73 during June, which began with him tossing five shutout innings against the Houston Astros.
The attention rightfully goes to Skenes, Jones (on IL right now), and Mitch Keller. Even Bailey Falter has established himself as a solid back-of-the-rotation starter.
Then you factor in the likes of Bubba Chandler and Hunter Barco, both pitching in Triple-A, it can be easy to forget someone like Burrows.
He may not be a long-term answer in the rotation, but it’s hard to argue that Burrows hasn’t earned the opportunity—for better or worse—to lock down that spot the rest of the season.
Speaking of Barco, he tossed another six shutout innings on Saturday, striking out seven.
It was originally a bumpy start to his time in Triple-A, which included a brief scare that saw him leave a game in the first inning.
Now, in his last three starts, Barco has allowed one earned run on seven hits and four walks, striking out 20 over 18 innings pitched. That’s three straight starts where he’s completed six innings, and you are starting to see the strikeouts climb.
He’s not another player that is initially thought of, at least he was, and is forcing his way into the picture.
At this point in the season, it seems there are multiple paths for Barco to reach the majors before Chandler does.
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It is easy to count pitchers out after they miss over a year. Burrows has exceeded expectations. How awesome would it be for the Prates if both Oviedo and Jared Jones could exceed expectations in their returns.
Funny, Yohan Ramirez re-signed. Made no sense for him to leave. If the Pirates trade Bednar, Santana and Ferguson, somebody gotta pitch. And Nicolas isn’t making progress.