Mike Burrows' best short-term fit might alter Pittsburgh Pirates' long-term options

Mike Burrows is one of the Pittsburgh Pirates' many top pitching prospects. Drafted in the 11th round of the 2018 draft, Burrows has developed into a promising arm, getting an early crack at the big leagues in the season's final series. Currently, MLB Pipeline ranks the right-hander as the Pirates' 15th-best prospect, but Baseball America is more bullish on his promise, ranking him as the team's 10th-best prospect. FanGraphs views him in the best light of anyone, setting the flamethrower as the Pirates' fourth-best prospect.

Burrows debuted late this season, pitching 3.1 innings of relief against the New York Yankees. He showed off that pedigree on a rainy Saturday, only allowing one earned run, striking out two, and walking a trio. It was a solid debut outing, but the last two years have been bumpy for the right-hander. Burrows entered 2023 as a potential rotation reinforcement for the Pirates. Unfortunately, he underwent Tommy John surgery in April, ending his season before it really began.

He returned in mid-June of this season and pitched to a solid 4.07 ERA, 26.6% strikeout rate, and 8.9% walk rate at Triple-A Indianapolis upon his return. However, the outlook of the Pirates' rotation and pitching staff has greatly changed since Burrows' surgery. The Pirates may need to figure out what role Burrows could serve long-term this offseason.

Pirates could stretch out Mike Burrows as a starter

Burrows' stuff is already good as a starter. His four-seamer at Triple-A sat 94.4 MPH with only 13.7 inches of drop and 8.5 inches of break. He's added an upper-80s slider to his arsenal with 28.3 inches of drop and 2.4 inches of break. However, the right-hander's high-spin curveball is his best breaking pitch, with over 50 inches of vertical drop. Burrows' change-up has also come a long way, going from a fringy third offering to a mid-80s pitch that induced a whiff rate of over 50% at Indy this year.

Burrows has mostly pitched as a starter throughout the minors as well. Of his 70 minor-league appearances, only four have been out of the bullpen. He has an arsenal that fits well as a starting pitcher, with four pitches that project as average or better, armed with good enough control to make it all work. The Pirates could slot him into the rotation as soon as midseason next year, if they choose to keep him in a starter's capacity, but he will need time to build his workload up again.

Continue to use him as a reliever

Burrows's stuff as a starter already plays well, but it would probably play up to another level if he were a reliever in shorter outings. Stuff+ pinned him at a strong 108 in his big-league debut as a reliever. He was used for multiple innings, so imagine what he could do if he was only required to pitch one or two innings at a time?

Plus, it's going to take a whole year to get Burrows fully stretched out. He's yet to toss 100 innings in a season. If Burrows isn't a starter, then he has the potential to be a great reliever, at least in the short-term. Keeping him as a bullpen arm would give him the best chance of cracking the Opening Day roster. It would also solve one of the Pirates' biggest needs. He can go multiple innings, giving them a flexible option as well. His stuff is good enough that he could eventually take over a higher-leverage role after getting more accustomed to pitching out of the pen. Is it worth sacrificing a potential starter for short-term benefit? Given the Pirates' stacked farm ... probably.

Use him in a trade

The Pirates already have a ridiculous amount of talented pitching. Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, Bailey Falter, Luis Ortiz, Braxton Ashcraft, and Burrows are all on the team's 40-man roster, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. 14 of the Pirates' top 30 prospects on Baseball America are pitchers. Of those 14, seven reached Double-A or higher this season, including Burrows. In total, seven received midseason promotions.

There is so much pitching in this system, and the Pirates have a huge opportunity to take advantage of it and make a splash on the trade market. Burrows offers a major league-ready arm who can take a spot in a pitching staff on Opening Day. Some teams would definitely find that as an attractive profile in a trade scenario.