Sudden Cy Young buzz for Burnes
The Milwaukee Brewers have not had a Cy Young Award winner on their pitching staff since Pete Vuckovich claimed that honor in the American League in 1982.
And, to be honest, they haven’t had a lot of starting pitchers do well enough to be strongly considered.
That has changed this season with the remarkable turnaround of righthander Corbin Burnes, who moved on from a disastrous 2019 season (1-5, 8.82 ERA, 17 HRs in 49 innings) to become one of the best starting pitchers in the National League in this pandemicshortened, 60-game season.
Entering his start Saturday night against the Kansas City Royals at Miller
Park, the 25-year-old Burnes ranks first among starters in the NL in opponents batting average (.154), strikeouts per nine innings (13.3) and hits per nine innings (4.9), is tied for third with a 1.98 ERA, fourth in pitching WAR (2.3), seventh with a 0.980 WHIP and eighth with 74 strikeouts.
In just his seven starts (he pitched three times in relief ), Burnes is 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA. Overall, he has allowed just one homer in 50 innings, a dramatic
turnaround from some of the shellings he took last season.
Asked Friday if he had heard his name mentioned as a Cy Young contender this season, Burnes said, “It's always nice to step back and see how you've been doing throughout the season. I do it every now and then to make sure everything is on track, and the things we're doing between starts is working.
“But, as far as the award and the results and everything, that's something I try to look at, at the end of the year. What we're looking at now is we've got (11) games left and we're a game out of second place. The most important thing is to win as many baseball games as we can and hopefully sneak our way into the postseason, and go from there.”
There are more high-profile candidates getting Cy Young mention, such as Chicago's Yu Darvish, Cincinnati's Trevor Bauer and New York's Jacob deGrom, who claimed the last two trophies and was considered the frontrunner again until a shaky outing Wednesday against Philadelphia in which he exited after two innings with a hamstring issue.
Atlanta's Max Fried also is considered a strong candidate.
“There's always baseball on in the clubhouse, the MLB Network and other games,” Burnes said. “So, you see good starts by other guys. As far as getting into the numbers of everybody, I haven't really done that.
“You know deGrom, we've faced Bauer a couple of times, you know Darvish has been throwing well. So, there's enough baseball on in the clubhouse that you hear about guys who are having good years and guys who are struggling.”
Burnes remade himself in many ways after his nightmarish '19 season, including changing his repertoire (he now throws more two-seamers and cutters), undergoing LASIK eye surgery (he no longer wears goggles) and working with a sports psychologist. In short, he has been new and improved, but said he set no statistical goals for 2020 as a result.
“I think a successful season for me every year is a healthy season,” Burnes said. “That's the first thing on the mind, to get through a season healthy. I put in a lot of prep in the offseason to do the best you can to stay healthy.
“As far as the results side of it, I really had no idea. For me, it was to continue to work on stuff I worked on in the offseason, with the pitches and more importantly with the mental side of it. I knew if I was able to go out and execute pitches the way I wanted to, it was going to be a favorable season for myself, and so far, it has.”
Burnes' walk rate is up a bit, from 3.7 per nine innings last season to 4.0, but because he has allowed so few hits, his WHIP is much lower – about half of what it was in '19 – and he hasn't had to work as hard to get through innings.
“Usually, my focus when I go out to pitch is to attack the (strike) zone and fill up the zone,” Burnes said. “So, the thing I'm always trying to work on is the amount of walks. Just limiting the amount of free passes you give is huge as a pitcher and really important as a starting pitcher.
“So, for me, that's what I've been working on – getting in the zone early, try to throw as few pitches as I can per batter. It's nice to lower hits this year but that's not my focus. My focus is to try to execute pitches and minimize the free passes.”
Burnes believes he has met the only two pitchers to win Cy Young Awards for the Brewers – Rollie Fingers (1981) and Vuckovich, and in consecutive seasons, no less.
“They're always there in spring training at some time. They come through,” he said. “Whenever a Brewers vet comes through, everyone does their due diligence and talks to them, says hi. It's always good to talk baseball with those guys.”
Jake Faria is released
The Brewers announced they released reliever Jake Faria, who was not on their 40-man roster but was at the alternate training site in Appleton as part of their 60-player pool. The 27-year-old righthander was acquire from Tampa Bay on July 31, 2019, in a trade for first baseman Jesús Aguilar.
Faria never gained traction with the Brewers. He appeared in nine games in two major-league stints last season and went 0-1 with an 11.42 ERA. In 82⁄3 innings, he allowed 18 hits and 12 runs (11 earned) with five walks and eight strikeouts.
Faria was invited to spring training as a non-roster player and also to summer camp after the pandemic shutdown but never saw action in the 60-game majorleague season.
Aguilar, 30, was claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay by Miami in December and has seen regular action as the Marlins' first baseman/DH. In 40 games, he has batted .278 with six homers, 29 RBI and .805 OPS.
The Brewers also made official the three young pitchers they acquired from Philadelphia on Aug. 31 for reliever David Phelps – right-handers Brandon Ramey, Juan Geraldo and Israel Puello. Ramey turned 20 on the day of the trade and Geraldo and Puello are 19. None has pitched above rookie ball.
Lindblom to start Sunday
Manager Craig Counsell said righthander Josh Lindblom, who's been on bereavement leave, will return and start the Brewers' regular-season finale at Miller Park against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
As a result, left-hander Brett Anderson will be pushed back to start Tuesday against the Reds in Cincinnati.
Lindblom is coming off his best performance of the season when he pitched five shutout innings, allowing three hits without a walk and striking out six against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the teams' doubleheader on Monday.
He has thrown eight consecutive scoreless innings over his last three appearances. Lindblom is 1-3 with a 5.26 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts). He's also struck out 48 in 372⁄3 innings.
Counsell has not provided any additional details about Lindblom's absence.