There was a version of this season where Mike Burrows looked like a steal.
The Houston Astros acquired the 26-year-old right-hander from Pittsburgh in a three-team trade last December, giving up two prospects in the process. He was not expected to anchor the rotation, but injuries forced him into a larger role almost immediately. For stretches, he delivered. Burrows threw seven scoreless innings in Cincinnati on May 8 and held Texas to two runs over seven innings later that month. There were moments where you could see exactly what the Astros thought they were getting.
Then there were the innings that unraveled everything.
Burrows is 3-8 with a 5.77 ERA through 13 starts, the highest ERA among qualified American League starters. He has allowed 17 home runs, most in the AL, and 11 have come against his four-seam fastball—the pitch that was supposed to play at the top of the zone and has instead become his biggest problem. Opponents are batting .309 and slugging .721 against it, both among the worst marks in baseball against any four-seam fastball this season.
The issue, as Burrows has described it, is movement. His four-seamer is running more arm-side than it did last season, causing it to leak back over the plate against left-handed hitters. The Astros have tried to counter it by moving him toward the third-base side of the rubber, adjusting his arm slot, and leaning more heavily on his changeup, which remains his best pitch. None of the adjustments have produced consistent results.
“For me, it always comes down to one bad inning for Mike,” manager Joe Espada said after Sunday’s loss to the Athletics. “He works really hard. We’re trying to give him different things just to prepare for, moving on the rubber a little bit, trying to create different lanes to attack hitters. He’s got really good stuff. When this guy is executing, he’s lights out.”
Christian Vázquez sees the same thing.
“We’ll continue to work hard and look for the light in the tunnel and you’re going to find it,” Vázquez said. “We need to attack more hitters and throw strikes.”
Burrows is not going anywhere yet. Hunter Brown is expected back from a shoulder strain during next week’s series against Detroit, and the Astros plan to move to a six-man rotation rather than bump Burrows from the group.
That means Burrows gets another opportunity, likely in Kansas City against one of the least productive slugging offenses in baseball.
The challenge is no longer identifying the problem. The Astros know what is happening. Burrows knows what is happening.
Now he has to fix it.
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