Right-hander Beau Burrows, who opened the season pitching with los Tecos de los Dos Laredos in the Mexican League, has signed a minor league deal with the Pirates. Beisbol Puro first reported the signing, which Burrows himself has also announced on social media this morning.
Burrows, 28, was selected by the Tigers with the No. 22 overall pick out of Weatherford High School in Texas back in the 2015 draft. He ranked among the Tigers’ top prospects for several years following that draft and garnered some top-100 fanfare at MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus in the 2017-18 offseason after logging 135 frames of 3.20 ERA ball between High-A and Double-A. The 6’2″ righty punched out 24.9% of his opponents that season and limited walks at a solid 8% clip.
A second year at the Double-A level in 2018 yielded lesser results (4.10 ERA in 134 innings), but Burrows reached 26 starts and topped 130 innings for a second straight season. He seemed like a good bet to make his big league debut in 2019 — at least until the injury bug bit. Burrows missed more than two months at the beginning of that ’19 season due to biceps tendinitis and inflammation in his right shoulder. He returned in June and was back on the shelf two months later after straining an oblique muscle, which cost him another month. He pitched only 74 innings across three levels — including his Triple-A debut — and worked to a 4.84 ERA.
Burrows felt very much like a pitcher who could use a mulligan at Triple-A in a hopefully healthier 2020 season. Of course, the pandemic wiped out the entire minor league season that year, depriving him of that opportunity. Burrows pitched at the Tigers’ alternate site and wound up making his MLB debut with five relief appearances (four runs in 6 2/3 innings). He was trounced for 17 runs in just 11 big league innings the following season and struggled to an ERA north of 5.00 in Triple-A between the Tigers and the Twins (who claimed him off waivers following a midseason DFA).
In the three years since that time, Burrows has pitched between the Dodgers, Phillies and Braves organizations but never returned to the majors. His work in a tiny sample during Mexican League play this season hasn’t exactly stood out; he’s tossed 5 2/3 innings out of the bullpen and allowed six earned runs on seven hits and nine walks.
Rough as those numbers appear, Beisbol Puro notes that Burrows’ velocity and curveball have caught the attention of major league scouts. He’s typically sat around 93 mph in recent Triple-A stints but has bumped that a couple ticks in 2025 and has seen his heater climb as high as 97 mph. This would only be Burrows’ second full season as a pure reliever, and if those velo readings are accurate, it’s a jump over his 2024 stint in the Phillies’ system, when he averaged 93.3 mph even following a move to short relief.
For the Pirates, there’s little harm in betting on ostensibly improved stuff from a former first-round pick who’ll still pitch nearly the entire 2025 season at 28 years of age. (Burrows turns 29 in mid-September.) He’ll presumably head to Triple-A Indianapolis, and if he can rein in his command while maintaining the improved stuff, Burrows could pitch his way into consideration for a big league look later this summer. Pittsburgh relievers rank 20th in the majors with a 4.24 ERA this season, but that includes a combined 20 2/3 innings of excellent work from Justin Lawrence and Tim Mayza, both of whom were recently moved to the 60-day injured list.
World Series or bust!
Not the Burrows Pirates fans want to see.
Something that happens year round is not annual.
The Pirates live in the dumpster. Shocked he didn’t get 5mil like Pham.
My biggest fear is that BC is going to pull another NH and make an Archer type deal.
Rest assured… To make an Archer-type blunder, the Bucs would have to be close to the .500 mark, something they will not be doing anytime soom
And probably not the Beau Burrows from Rumor Has It played by Kevin Costner who played a Pitcher and a catcher in 2 movies. He might help, just saying.
The annual Dumpster Diving festival of this franchise has started early this season
I wonder if Derek Bell is available or is he still living on his boat?
Chris Archer might still be available.
I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself I’ll see myself out now.
“Operation: Waste Paul Skene’s rookie years” is in full speed!!!
Neil Huntington was a better GM than Ben Cherington. Yeah come at me!
His one mistake was forced by ownership and a massive outrage from season ticket holders.
I can’t disagree stmrtbusnisman04a
that’s a long name
Thanks!
If you want more proof, our two top offensive talents, Cruz and Reynolds, were acquired during Huntington’s regime
And “fans” bitched about both of those trades when they were made.
Of course they did, it was the beginning of yet another “5 year plan”. Trading a face of the franchise in Cutch and a quality LH reliever. Pirates fans have seen trades of vets for prospects blow up time and time again. Can’t blame them for complaining.
I loved those trades. Going to love the Heaney Santana Bednar etc trades coming. You can’t let players leave for nothing. Sign then in free agency if you want them back. Fans a should want everyone traded.
Does wanting the trade of Cherington count?
Wait a minute. Fans should want everyone traded? How does that make sense? They have almost nothing to begin with
The McCuthen trade was inevitable. The Pirates were never gonna be able to give him a $100 million contract. The Cubs made sure of that when they overpaid for Jason Heyward.
As a small market team, its better to trade and getting something in return for him rather than watch him walk away,
And Watson struggled badly as closer for Pitt so it made sense to trade him while we were out of contention.
The one trade they did botch was Gerrit Cole because we could have got better value for him. However the Pirates made a big deal about his arm health which depresed his market value (it wasn’t a loss because we still acquired Joe Musgrove in that deal)
They also traded Cole two years before he would have been a free agent
Yes. You should only trade someone who is nearing free agency 2 months to 2 years. Someone who will make more $ than they are worth. When a team offers you surplus value that makes your team better.
The Pirates have mostly done this. One of the best trading teams the past 12 to 15 years. Only real stinker was Archer.
Frazier Phan Borucki are must trades if anyone wants them.
Heaney Bednar Ferguson IKF are must trades.
Santana trade for right return.
Keller may be a need to trade for salary relief. Bob isn’t making anymore $ this year. Could be Reynolds but you need bats more than pitching.
You listen on everyone else. They did that with Bednar Reynolds Keller Jones.
Trading the right way makes your team much better. Because of this fans should hope for and be excited for trades.
Most of the Pirates trades have failed because 1 they didn’t have a Scherzer Turner Soto to trade and or 2 they failed to develop the players. But the kida from the Brubaker Santana Hill trades are interesting top 30 prospects. No one is missing Brubaker Hill and Santana has been a free agent every single year. Marte Bell Anderson Quintana Perez Choi have been free agents. With 90m payroll you can’t keep everyone in fact you can’t keep hardly anyone.
Cherington made maybe 1 poor trade. Cook. Most his trades got rid of dead weight. Most have been wins that fans just can’t see. If better player development fans would be able to see.
Looking at the wrong way. Watson struggling was irrelevant. If Watson was the best pitcher anyone has ever seen you trade him. 2 months remaining. If Skenes has 2 months remaining and is going to win his 4th cy young but you are out of playoff picture you trade him. You trade anyone with 2 months left if you are losing team.
Cole you could complain about. It worked out. But not a wow exciting trade at time.
Anyone who wasn’t thrilled with Cutch Watson being traded is a idiot. Yes a lot of idiots.
I understand all of your points. Strictly from an economic perspective, yeah, ok, it’s unfortunate but it’s more likely Nutting would go this direction than adding name players
But man, what a way to torpedo the idea of being a fan of a team. Sucks
Fans only care about winning. With Cutch before winning 1.5m with Cutch winning 2.3m with cutch no winning 1.5m without cutch no winning 1.5
Keep Reynolds Cruz Skenes Keller attendance under 2m with no winning. Trade them all and win attendance will be over 2m.
You can’t extend sign everyone nor do you want to. You trade and just keep reloading the farm. Giles for Bay. Cutch for Reynolds. Problem now is we had no Giles Cutch and we didn’t hit big or enough on returns.
Ok. So you’re suggesting a new rebuild. Trade anyone of value and restock the farm, at least with hitters And from looking at this team and their farm, seems like the right idea. But doesn’t this all seem like they rebuilt only to immediately rebuild again? You would have hoped there would have been some success in between
If Ben loses his job during or after the season is over, it’s almost guaranteed that the next GM will rebuild again.
The minors are bare of enough talent that would make an impact on next season.
Rebuilding has become a Pirate staple for years.
Next to impossible to impossible to rebuild. Let’s break it down.
Canario not free agent until 2031 so even if you rebuild you wouldn’t really trade him.
Cruz impossible or close enough to trade. Skenes more so. Who 1 has the farm system and 2 even if they did would be willing to destroy it? Talking 4 to 6 top 100 prospects minimum with most in the top 50.
Hayes who wants a bad back.
Pitchers all years left of control.
No reason or need to rebuild. There’s no one of significant value with 2 years or less remaining.
I think you’re talking complete rebuild, and you’re probably right
But given what they have now and what’s on the farm, it would be interesting to see what Skenes and Cruz would fetch
I haven’t seen a Pirates team this bad in many moons. It would make sense to bring in a new GM and allow him to rebuild as he sees fit, no?
Nutting is a idiot so you never know. But no reason to rebuild. Rebuild would be awful choice. Next gm will do whatever Nutting says. You will see everywhere people saying new gm means rebuild. New gm means Kelly gone because they will want their own manager. That’s true but what the new gm wants doesn’t matter at all. Any gm taking this job will be so desperate and have no other options they will have to do whatever Nutting wants.
More importantly and this is why you guys haven’t muted me. We want a gm who doesn’t want his own manger. Who is fine with taking the job with Nutting insisting he can’t get his own manager and must keep Kelly. Because it could mean this gm has intelligence. I would have to fight incredibly hard to hold back my smile if Nutting said I must keep Kelly. Why? Because 3 years later if I failed at my job I will be able to say I told you so. You insisted I keep Kelly!!!!!!!
Lunch time. I will tell the Pirates what to do to give them the best chance to compete in 2026.
You’re saying a rebuild is crazy but at the same time, acknowledge they have a poor MLB team and lack offensive depth at the farm level
So if the idea isn’t to do Groundhogs Day Baseball every year and not rebuild, what’s your answer?
It can’t be continually filling holes with Phams and Fraziers.
No need to rebuild. They only piece’s that would be considered a rebuild are Cruz 3 more seasons Skenes 4 more seasons.
I gave them the answers. I told them to claim Hill last year to boost pen. Gave them 5 outfielders to sign who were are all better than Pham. Told them to sign Canha to play 1b outfield. Wouldn’t have made them a playoff team or even a winning team but would allow them to hang around and make moves at deadline.
Told them they hit the lottery on Canario and he should be playing every day. They finally figured that out but too late.
Those were all obvious common sense things to do. They need a gm who has basic baseball knowledge. I told them to fire Cherington.
I figure Nutting doesn’t care enough about his product to see what his customers are saying and wouldn’t care what one of them recommended. But as awful as his teams have been he should have been.
that’s all true but it still doesn’t answer the questions of who in the minors will be major league ready next year without trading players?
Depending upon just a few players who are in control for a few years isn’t going to help this putrid offense
You trade for certain Heaney Ferguson Bednar. Take whatever you can get. Pham Borucki Frasier if anyone wants them. Trade Mayza if healthy.
Trade for a fair return Santana Holderman.
If you need to dump salary trade Keller Reynolds for fair return.
How do you replace these guys?
Heaney same way you got him. Sign the old lefty no other team wants Heany Perez Hill Quintana Anderson.
How do you replace the bullpen? Same way you got Ferguson Mayza 3m 1m. Same way you got Santana Lawrence waivers.
Keller? Bubba.
Reynolds look at his stats. Look at guys I suggested to sign instead of Pham. Can do better than that though. He makes real $ so they could sign a 10 12 15 million dollar outfielder. Better yet you wouldn’t trade Reynolds for young pitching since you already have young pitching. You would trade him for young hitting. Or you trade him for a pitcher because you traded Keller for a bat.
2026
LF Canario or outfielder from Keller trade or free agent signing from Keller 15m salary savings.
CF Cruz
RF Reynolds or Canario or free agent or trade.
3b Hayes
SS No good answer. Triolo.
2b Gonzales
1b Horowitz
C Bart
DH Cutch
Bench
Davis
Valdez 2b 1b
Peguero SS 2b
Endy C 1b 2b outfield
Same awful team back again!!!! No. No Pham Suwinski Gorsk killing the team. Canario will have experience and have seen all the pitchers at least some. Havnt had Gonzales Horowitz this year. That’s 3 players we have played little or none who are clear upgrades. And if you trade Keller or Reynolds you can get even a better player.
Skenes
Bubba
Falter
Carmen
LHP no other team wants
Keller if you don’t trade him.
Jones if arm hasn’t falled off
Oviedo if arm hasn’t falled off
Burrows
Ashcraft
Barco
You could trade Keller and be just fine. Good hitter and Bubba > Keller.
Good hitter and Barco > Jones
Trade some pitching even just 1 pitcher for hitting and you could have a 90 win division winning team. No rebuild needed.
Cruz Skenes Bubba Barco etc will all be traded. Everyone will be traded. You just keep reloading. Now if injuries hit and you can make playoffs in. Say 2027 2028. You micro rebuild. Reynolds Keller Skenes Cruz Gonzales Horowitz Hayes if healthy Canario Davis Endy Jones Falter all traded. Probably not that good im 2027 2028 but you now have a absolutely loaded farm system for KG Bubba Barco TJ Sterling Sanford Mueth. 2 top 10 or 5 draft picks from being bad in 2027 2028. Along with the top 10 draft picks from 2025 2026.
You never rebuild. You just keep reloading. Bad season it’s a 1 year rebuild. But not even a rebuild because you have so much young MLB talent and a loaded farm as your foundation. Cleveland Milwaukee Tampa do this successfully. And they could do it better.
I like your plan but it stops just short of what a rebuild is. You’re just using different words. You’re not having a fire sale but you’re talking about getting rid of a lot of players, which I agree with. I’d go a bit further and hope for good stretches for a few you didn’t mention in trade talks to see what their value is, too
In mentioning TB and Milwaukee though, they “do this successfully” *and* build their farm, too
It’s incredible that the Pirates haven’t done so
Not even close to rebuild. People call it a reload. I like to say it’s just operating a business like it should be done.
Rays traded Archer for Glasnow instant replacement for Archer and Baz future rotation piece. Meadows as well and then traded him for Paredes who they will trade for someone else before he becomes a free agent. 1 year of Glasnow for 6 or 7 years of Ryan Pepiot who will be traded.
Padres traded Soto. Didn’t rebuild. They got back King a mlb pitcher. Traded the best prospect in the Soto trade for Cease. Turned 1 year of Soto into 4 years of front line pitching. Will give them qualifying offers and will receive high draft picks which could become future mlb players or trade chips for mlb players.
Astros traded 1 year of Tucker for 3 years of their starting 3b 4 or 5 years of a starting pitcher and 6 or 7 years of their starting outfield. Instead of window closing and would need a rebuild they attempted to keep window open longer.
If you do things correctly there are no windows. You just contend every single year. If injuries destroy you that is when you trade everyone nearing free agency even if it’s a year sooner than you planned, lose a bunch of games and get a high draft pick. A half a season rebuild. Next season it’s right back to contending. Goal is to always have a roster of young players and a top half farm system. Old going out. New going in.
Now if Skenes KG Bubba etc are willing to sign extension you do it. But that only delays them being traded. Unless they love Pittsburgh and both sides want them as life long Pirates. As a small market you can really only have 1 of these at a time.
Both Marte and Bell trades were bad trades in that they got virtually nothing for two reasonably good players.
They were designed as salary dumps and yes,neither player was a prime trade candidate who would bring back several very good young near ML ready players but he should not have traded them then unless they were salary dumps and other teams knew that.
Cole was traded because he did not want to play in Pittsburgh any longer and Huntington was afraid he would get nothing in return if he started having arm problems.
Musgrove was a good return and he got three other players that he hoped would amount to something when they needed players.
Ben’s problem is that he does not have the development team to develop hitters,He needs to do what Huntington did and get near ready Ml hitters in return because they cannot develop their own.
Kelly is a moot point.
If he wins he stays.
If the clown act continues he is gone.
Cherington has evidently taken steps to try to right the ship with new coaches,development people,and a manager.
My guess is he goes too if they continue this very poor start.
Bell brought back a former 2nd round pick with an elite change up and a young hard throwing high ceiling prospect.
Marte brought back a late 1st round pick just as talented as Priester was at time borderline top 100 prospects. And a no doubt ss with fast hands and loud contact also a borderline top 100 prospect.
If he didn’t trade them you wouldn’t have the number 1 pitching prospect in baseball right now as they likely would have won more games and not got the #1 pick.
Cole was traded because he was getting expensive and nearing free agency and they decided to rebuild reload. They don’t give a it what players want. Remember when Reynolds requested a trade?
I’m a little lost with AI thinking his plan isn’t a rebuild but that’s ok. You know, the big league team being this bad is one thing. But the fact that there is really no help coming from the farm is disappointing. People want to keep pointing to their young pitchers. Hey, great. Look how far decent pitching has gotten them so far
We have to agree to disagree on these two trades.
Huntington would have received ML ready players for them.
I think that they were both mostly salary dumps.
I did not mind trading them but they should have received more in return.
Older semi expensive PED user. Those 2 mlb ready players wouldn’t be borderline top 100 guys. Malone was a great pitching prospect. Good slider 96 mph heater. If Pirates drafted him instead of Priester no one would have said a word about it. He was that level of a prospect. Peguero international but at similar value.
Going for lesser talent near mlb is why Huntington got fired. Small market teams can’t by stars. They have to develop them. The younger further away you go the better the talent you can get. The rebuild wasn’t going to be over in 2021 2022 so no rush on the prospects. Should never be a rush. Get the best talent you can.
It’s ok. The combination of Pham and Horwitz are gonna be unstoppable. You’ll see
(Yeah. It’s sarcasm)
I do think horwitz will be a nice boost if he ever gets on the field
Haha. Ok. I don’t.
considering that Ben said he would be out for 8-9 weeks and it’s been closer to 3 months, he might not be the offensive force Ben traded for
Isnt his rehab window almost up? What happens if he’s not ready? Activate and option to Indy?
Unless I’m wrong, he’s already at Indy, getting started in game action
Hah!
If i had your’s and Ben’s optimism, i could conquer the world
and he’s stunk at both Altoona and Indy.
He also made a lot of bad trades. He was enamoured by failed prospects, Andy Laroche, Lastings Milledge, etc.
Whoa there, hole. Milledge was a part of the trade that brought Hanrahan here, a guy who did a credible job as a closer for a couple years
To be fair, NH made multiple mistakes that there was no way of recovering from. Archer being the biggest.
But yeah I think NH was better.
I gave up on him long ago. For Pirates fans, the best you can hope for is AAA depth. I hope I’m wrong though.
the problem, at least regarding their triple A affiliate is there’s no offensive depth to choose from
another Cherington failure
TheMan 3
Solak has been hitting great but they don’t want to promote him since not on 40 man roster?
Afraid they may have to trim some dead wood.
Henry Davis hit well in AAA last year but still can’t hit major league pitching.
Same thing happened with Suwinski last season.
Then again Pham can’t hit major league pitching and he’s still on the roster
TheMan 3
Solak has a MLB average over .250. Granted it has been a few years ago that he hit well but this team is desperate for offense. Give him a shot.
I’m not disputing anything you say, panj341, except that with this franchise, it seems that they use guys who can’t hit and don’t use guys who can.
Like playing Triolo in every game. It escapes logic
There is offensive out there! He won’t give up decent young pitching to get some! That IS on him!!
Especially considering there are good young arms at Indy instead of in Pittsburgh because heaven forbid they promote anyone that would start their service time too early in the season
He did give up young pitching to acquire spencer Horwitz and Nick Yorke.
Who? Where?
He probably took steroids and got a velocity uptick.
Ben won’t trade any young pitching for young hitters that’s on him!! We need 2 good hitters, one being Mayo from Baltimore plus another one from somewhere!! Make a stupid deal??!!
yeah allow the worst GM in baseball to trade away one of our pitching prospects for a hitter
I wouldn’t trust Cherington to trade away the Pirate Parrot and expect a good hitter in return
I’ve repeated this since last years trade deadline. Baltimore offered mayo for Bernard. The story goes that both Shelton and cherrington turned ot down…now look at bednar…we got rid of one moron and get rid of cherrington. I don’t want him picking in this summers draft.
Also since the season is over..might as well get rid of pham,heaney and falter,bednar, triolio. And bring up the youngsters.
And it seems that Kelly is in love with trilio like the MORON was.
He’s also apparently in love with Davis, as he’s playing tonight while Cutch sits.
Bart is the DH
Frazier is leading off, Reynolds is batting third
Yes, Triolo is playing, at first base
The Mets pitcher has an ERA of just over 1 and is a strikeout pitcher
It should be another double digit performance with less than two runs scored
Hey if you can get a semi recent top prospect on a Milb deal… Go for it. Not a move that fans should get upset about… Not a move fans should get excited about.
we need major league ready players not top minor league prospects
To further that… need MLB players that can play in the MLB
Pham lost his appeal and is suspended for tonight’s game against the Mets.
At least one player who can’t hit major league pitching won’t be playing tonight
Horrible numbers. Yikes
Bednar is now 0-4 after last night’s loss to the Mets
I realize that he was the only option since Santana pitched in 3 consecutive games but perhaps using a reliever for more than one inning could have been a different outcome
Yet if you can’t score more than 3 runs a game, relying on your bullpen isn’t always going to be effective
Is it time to move Reynolds out of the number two slot unlike he starts to hit again? He’s not hitting, not having productive at bats.
Why not call up Bubba chandler
Service time means more to this franchise than winning
Carmen has looked good of late. Any injury and Bubba may have been up. No one has been so bad you replace them. Playoffs are gone. So yes service time is important. Make sure Bubba can’t win ROY like Skenes.
so, don’t improve the team because they aren’t going to make the playoffs?
That’s the kind of logic Ben uses for not wanting to promote top prospects
Why? Starting pitching is not the problem right now for the Pirates, offense is.
At least the Pirates under Kelly are performing the way many expected, one run games, not being blown out.
Another strong start from the rotation only to be ruined by an offense that can’t hit with runners in scoring position but can easily achieve another double digit strikeout performance
Hayes hits a one out triple and doesn’t score because Triolo strikes out on a pitch outside of the zone
With runners on second and third with one out, IKF pulls a Triolo and Reynolds who’s in an 0 for his last 7 grounds out weakly to 3rd
Reynolds in now mired in a 4 for his last 31 plate appearances and is second in the league in strikeouts, but just keep playing him
I want him to shake out of his slump but it is probably time to give him a game off. He’s not helping this offense at all
It’s apparent that the pirates are wasting solid starting pitching. Team sets a franchise record with 19 straight games of 4 runs or less. Last night’s game was an example of Kelly just being a Shelton clone.
By continuing to play anemic triolo and batting Bart 4th.
I’m all fir Kelly finishing the year, but they need a name manager. Nutting needs to fire cherrington. Make a splurge next year on a bat. Multi-year contract. And they can’t be impulsive and trade young pitching for a hitter who’s older than 30…lessons learned from the archer trade
In all fairness, Gorski is the only first baseman other than Triolo available but both are strikeout machines
Hainey, the hitting coach was supposed to be better than Haines and isn’t. Makes me gag just to say it but our offense, as anemic as it was, was better last year
Cutch not playing last night is a head scratcher. He leads the team in walks drawn and you’d think that he would have played just knowing there was a good chance of him getting on base
Hague is like any other hitting coach. There’s only so much he can do with what he has. And he doesn’t have much
“Anemic” is a good word. What does it say about your team when a 39 year old is one of your top hitters?
I get what you’re saying, Former but with only a few different players, they are much offensively worse than last year but with a different hitting coach.
Regarding Cutch, he’s old school and knows the strike zone, isn’t anxious to swing at every pitch unlike most of the younger players
Already improved Canario Valdez. 2 more than Haines.
if they were already improved they wouldn’t be last in the majors in just about every offensive category except strikeouts where they are amongst the leaders
They aren’t anywhere close
These Kelly lineups make more sense to me.
I think that the standard one with Cruz and Gonzalez coming back should be-
McCutcheon DH
IKF SS
Cruz CF
Bart C
Reynolds RF
Canerio LF
Gonzalez 2B
Hayes 3B
Gorski 1B
I think that this lineup is actually decent but the reserves are not good hitters.
Horowitz about to knock Gorski out. Down to Endy Gorski for weak platoon. Right move is see what Gorski can do as he is a dfa decision and Endy isn’t. More importantly it allows Endy to get in work in minors after missing a ton of time last few years and allow Davis to get mlb playing time.