The Milwaukee Brewers called up their top pitching prospect to the major leagues. What should we expect from him?
The Milwaukee Brewers have been calling up players to fill in their team as they make a playoff run this year. The most recent is top pitching prospect Corbin Burnes, their top prospect in the organization.
Player Profile
Corbin Brian Burnes received plenty of notice in his final season at St. Mary’s in California as he struck out 120 batters on the season in 101 2/3 innings, posting a 2.48 ERA and gaining plenty of pre-draft acclaim. Burnes was drafted in the 4th round of the 2016 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.
After 7 innings with the Arizona Rookie League team, Burnes was moved up to the Brewers low-A club, but with heavy usage in college already on the season, but Brewers managed his innings with Wisconsin, and in total in 2016, he totaled just 35 2/3 innings of pro work, with tremendous results – a 2.02 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, a 12.32% walk rate, and a 28.08% strikeout rate.
Burnes opened the 2017 season with the Milwaukee Brewers’ high-A affiliate in Carolina, where he posted a 1.05 ERA over 10 starts, pushing a promotion to AA Biloxi. He doubled his ERA, but that was still quite elite. His final season total was 145 2/3 innings pitched, a 1.67 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 5.45% walk rate, and 21.21% strikeout rate.
After the tremendous 2017 season, Corbin Burnes was ranked frequently as the top Milwaukee Brewers prospect in the system, and he was also a universal top 100 prospect, ranking #74 with Baseball America, #69 with MLB Pipeline, and #80 with Baseball Prospectus. He was ranked #48 in Call to the Pen’s top 150 list.
This season, Burnes has forced his way onto the Milwaukee Brewers roster not with a pretty ERA, as the Pacific Coast League will do that to a person’s ERA, but through quality peripherals, as he’s pitched to a 5.15 ERA and 1.45 WHIP over 78 2/3 innings, but with a 9.04% walk rate and 23.62% strikeout rate.
Next: Corbin's scouting report