Report: Pirates Promote Mike Burrows to Triple-A Indianapolis

After their 9-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates will promote No. 11 prospect Mike Burrows (MLB Pipeline), from Double-A Altoona to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to Adam Babestski of the Altoona Mirror. Burrows recently pitched on Tuesday and went 1.1 innings while giving up five earned runs.

Despite the bad outing on Tuesday, Burrows has been one of the more dominant pitchers in the Pirates’ Minor League system carrying a 2.13 ERA and an even more impressive xFIP of 3.98. Burrows averages 11.72 strikeouts per nine, and opponents are batting a measly .188 against him in 50.2 innings pitched.

Burrows quite possibly has one of the best curveballs, if not the best curveball, in the Pirates’ system. According to FanGraphs, Burrows curveball is rated a 70/70, and from the games that we’ve been able to watch, Burrows loves using that deadly weapon in any count.

Burrows’ fastball still has some development left, but he sits in the mid-90s’ and does a nice job setting his off-speed stuff with his fastball.

In his age 22 season, Burrows was drafted by the Pirates in the 2018 draft in the 11th round. Burrows signed a pretty hefty signing bonus at $500,000, which probably deterred him from honoring his commitment to Connecticut.

Burrows is now one step away from the Major Leagues, and with his age and trajectory, we could see a similar situation we saw with Roansy Contreras. Maybe give Burrows one of the last games of the season in the show and give him a taste of what is to come very soon.