Pirates bring back former Tigers first-rounder after surprisingly effective season

The Pittsburgh Pirates quietly made one of those moves that doesn’t light up the transaction wire, but absolutely fits the type of gamble this organization tends to lean on: bringing back right-hander Beau Burrows on a minor league deal.

If that name rings a bell, it's probably because Burrows was once a first-round pick of the Detroit Tigers in 2015 before injuries and inconsistency knocked him off the national radar. After last pitching in the majors in 2021, he bounced around various teams' Triple-A affiliates and even took a brief detour through the independent American Association in 2024.

Last season, though, Burrows launched his comeback tour. He signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in May and went on to post a sparkling 2.94 ERA with 49 strikeouts, a microscopic 0.90 WHIP and a .158 batting average against across four levels of Pittsburgh's farm system.

Things really clicked for Burrows at Double-A Altoona, where he mowed through hitters like a guy who had rediscovered both his confidence and his best stuff. The fastball played up, the command looked real, and the secondary pitches actually finished hitters instead of letting them hang around.

Burrows dominated at Double-A with an 0.44 ERA and a 28.4% strikeout rate. He looked like the version of himself scouts dreamed about when he was drafted — not the post-injury question mark, but the pitcher who could attack the zone without fear.

Then came Triple-A Indianapolis, where things got bumpy. Burrows' 6.20 ERA at Indianapolis wasn't pretty, and it’s fair to acknowledge that his momentum hit a wall against older, more polished hitters. Triple-A is baseball purgatory for a reason — a mix of washed-up big-leaguers, desperate call-ups, and prospects punching for survival. Burrows didn’t solve it last season, but the Pirates decided to give him another chance.

Pirates bring back right-hander Beau Burrows as non-roster depth in 2026

This is exactly the kind of low-risk, upside-only reunion that the Pirates love to make. Burrows isn’t being handed a rotation spot or being promised leverage innings, but he's being given another runway — and with it, a chance to prove that 2024’s dominance wasn’t just a hot stretch, but a real reinvention.

Best-case scenario? The Pirates have unearthed another arm to throw into a bullpen that will once again be searching for reliability behind David Bednar. Worst-case scenario? He’s organizational depth — the kind of pitcher every team quietly needs when injuries pile up and innings disappear. And for a franchise that has built its recent pitching identity on reclamation projects and second chances, Burrows fits right in.

The Pirates didn’t draft Burrows. They didn’t develop him. But now, they get the benefit of whatever growth he’s gone through since Detroit moved on. Sometimes the best version of a pitcher doesn’t arrive at 21. Sometimes it arrives after surgeries, setbacks and a whole lot of humility.

This move won’t sell tickets, and it won't break the internet. But if Burrows throws like he did in Altoona again — and if he figures out how to translate that to Indianapolis — it might quietly turn into a “how did they pull that off?” story. And for Pirates fans, that’s exactly the kind of headline we’ve learned not to ignore anymore.