The 29-year-old Burrows last pitched in the Majors in 2021. Burrows, a first-round pick by the Tigers in the 2015 draft, was a one-time top 100 player in the sport who made his big league debut during the shortened 2020 season. The right-hander has just 11 MLB appearances on his resume between the 2020 and ’21 seasons. He posted an 8.64 ERA in six games for the Tigers at the big league level before being plucked from the Twins in 2021 and posting a 12.54 ERA over 9 1/3 frames for Minnesota. Burrows has identical strikeout and walk rates of 12.5% for his career and has allowed eight home runs in 17 2/3 career innings.
It’s an ugly big league resume, short as it may be. Burrows has not appeared in the majors since, but spent the next few years bouncing between various minor league systems. He pitched for the Triple-A affiliates of the Dodgers, Braves and Phillies from 2022-’24 before being released by the Phillies in June 2024. He remained a member of the independent American Association for the remainder of the 2024 campaign but struggled even at that level, leaving him with an uncertain path as 2025 began. Burrows managed to find an opportunity in the Mexcian League, signing with the Tecos de los Dos Laredos for the 2025 campaign.
Burrows did not perform particularly well in the Mexican League, but scouts at the time suggested that his speed and curveball quality attracted the attention of MLB clubs. That was enough to get Burrows back to affiliated ball, and he signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in May. He pitched to a 2.94 ERA in 49 innings of work at four levels of the minors for Pittsburgh. While he struggled late in the season in his 16 appearances at Triple-A, he was utterly dominant at Double-A with a 0.44 ERA and a 28.4% strikeout rate. Now, Burrows will rejoin the Pirates and continue the development work he put in in the organization in 2025.
Burrows’ first order of business in 2026 will certainly be to finally conquer the Triple-A level, where he has posted a career ERA of 6.10. If the 29-year-old can show some command at the highest levels of the minors this year, it wouldn’t be a shock if the Pirates find a way to get him back into the big leagues for the first time in half a decade, given how good he looked at the lower levels of the minors this year, as well as the tantalizing skills scouts felt Burrows flashed during his time in the Mexican League earlier this year. Joe La Sorsa, Noah MurdockAnd Michael Darrell-Hicks are among the other non-roster utility weapons the Pirates have in the organization at Triple-A heading into next year.
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