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MIKE BURROWS, RIGHT HANDED PITCHER
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| Born: November 8, 1999 Height: 6′ 2″ Weight: 183 Bats: Right Throws: Right Drafted: 11th Round, 324th Overall, 2018 How Acquired: Draft High School: Waterford HS Agent: N/A |
WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE |
| Burrows is a projectable pitcher with a quick arm, throwing from a three-quarters arm slot; he has a good chance to add velocity as he fills out. By the time of the 2018 draft, his fastball could touch 93 MPH, although it usually sat in the upper 80s with good sink and location. The fastball now sits in the mid-90s. Burrows gets very high spin rates, throwing an outstanding curve and a change that’s also become a plus pitch. He wasn’t ranked in Baseball America’s top 500 prospects, but was the number five prospect out of Connecticut this year, falling one spot behind their #331 overall prospect. He also played third base in high school, but the Pirates drafted him as a pitcher. Burrows had a commitment to Connecticut but signed a few days before the deadline.
2018 Burrows got into four games in the GCL and allowed just one unearned run. 2019 A prep pitching draftee ordinarily would go to Bristol for his first full season. Burrows, though, impressed the Pirates in extended spring training, partly with velocity that got up to the mid-90s, and they sent him to West Virginia. He pitched well at times, but was erratic and generally did not go beyond four innings. He had a significant reverse platoon split, with right-handed hitters putting up an .806 OPS. He held left-handed hitters to .549. 2020 2021 Burrows had a big year at Greensboro, at least when he was healthy. He missed nearly two months starting in mid-July with an oblique injury. When he pitched, he dominated, holding batters to a 143/244/250 line, although that was helped by a .208 BABIP. Unlike most of his teammates, he was deadly at home, holding hitters to a .387 OPS with a 42% strikeout rate. He also held right-handed hitters to a .398 OPS, compared to .618 for left-handed hitters. 2022 Burrows had a big first half at Altoona. He put up impressive numbers, arguably even more impressive than they seem; he had a meltdown in his last start before moving up to Indianapolis, giving up five earned runs in an inning and a third. Of his other 11 starts for the Curve, he threw scoreless ball in six. Burrows had a lot more trouble in AAA, and also ran into some minor injuries. He missed a start in July, then missed nearly all of September with right shoulder inflammation. He returned to start the last game of the season and gave up six earned runs while recording just two outs. Without that outing, his ERA at Indy was 4.10. Despite the rough second half, Burrows remains one of the Pirates’ top few pitching prospects. It’s possible he just wasn’t quite ready for a full season’s workload. He was Rule 5 eligible, so the Pirates added him to their 40-man roster. Unfortunately, early in the 2023 season he suffered an elbow injury and had Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss over half the 2024 season at least. |
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CONTRACT INFORMATION
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| 2023: Major League Minimum |
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PLAYER INFORMATION
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| Signing Bonus: $500,000 MiLB Debut: 2018 MLB Debut: MiLB FA Eligible: N/A MLB FA Eligible: 2028 Rule 5 Eligible: N/A Added to 40-Man: 11/15/2022 Options Remaining: 3 MLB Service Time: 0.000 |
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TRANSACTIONS
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| June 6, 2018: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 11th round, 324th overall pick; signed on July 3. November 15, 2022: Contract purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates. |
