Sean

Burke

Burke allowed three hits and didn’t walk anyone. He’s now allowed just one earned run in 13 1/3 innings (two appearances) pitching behind an opener. The righty hasn’t forced his way onto the fantasy radar yet, and that looks unlikely to change with a road game against the Padres up next.

Burke stranded four runners over three scoreless frames before the Diamondbacks brought a run in to score in the fourth on a triple and a groundout. Alek Thomas later took Burke deep for a solo homer in the fifth. Burke’s sixth and final frame was his only clean inning. His day would be done after six with three strikeouts. The 26-year-old right-hander will take a 4.10 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and a 20/7 K/BB ratio across 26 1/3 innings into a start against the Nationals in Chicago on Sunday.

The Rays never let Burke settle in here. After a one-two-three first inning, there was constant traffic on the bases and couldn’t miss enough bats to quell those rallies. In fact, he only forced three swings-and-misses all outing against a lineup that isn’t particularly tough to hold down. Yet, he’s on tap for a mildly interesting two-start week against the Diamondbacks and Nationals coming up. Proceed with caution.

Burke split the difference between his first outing (3 ER in 4 IP) and his second outing (1 ER in 6 IP) to maintain his 3.60 ERA. The 26-year-old threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of 20 batters, though his leadoff walk to Gunnar Henderson in the third fueled his one bad inning. He’ll face the Rays next week.

Burke began the second after Grant Taylor’s perfect first and eventually departed with the White Sox up 3-1 after seven. Alas, he was denied a win after Jordan Leasure gave up a two-run homer to Andrés Giménez in the eighth. If the White Sox want to keep using openers in front of Burke, it would make him a more attractive AL-only option. He’s due to face the Orioles next on Wednesday.

He’ll be followed by Sean Burke. Taylor has thrown two innings in relief this year, allowing one run, and has mostly been out of the closing mix for the White Sox so far this year after saving six games in 2025. Burke should be the one with the chance at a win.

Burke did get five strikeouts, even though only five of the 45 swings against him produced whiffs. He allowed seven hits, including a double from Bryce Turang that would have been a homer in 23 ballparks. He was handed the loss, so he’ll take a 0-1 record and a 6.75 ERA into his second start versus the Blue Jays.

Burke allowed a solo homer to Mitch Garver in the second, and two innings later Garver drove in a run with a sac fly. The southpaw was solid over his final two outings of the spring; allowing just three runs over 9 2/3 innings. He’ll be in the White Sox rotation, but he could only be recommended against the very worst lineups as a streamer, at best.

Burke lowered his spring ERA to 4.97. He was throwing more sinkers in his early starts, which seemed to get him into some trouble, but he backed off that tonight. Five of his 78 pitches against the Rangers were sinkers, which is basically a match for the five percent of the time he threw it last year. He was at 16% sinkers through three outings.

Burke struck out three batters on the evening and didn’t allow a base on balls. All of the damage done against him came in the opening inning as Burke allowed three straight doubles to start the game then a two-out, two-run homer to CJ Kayfus. He rebounded nicely though, working a pair of scoreless innings to end his night. Burke got five whiffs on 40 pitches in the contest, registering a strong CSW of 43 percent. His velocity, which was down slightly in his last start, was up a bit from last season’s average in this one (+0.5 mph). There’s potential upside to be had here, which makes Burke an interesting late-round flier in the final rounds of deeper mixed league drafts.