Milwaukee Brewers recall Corbin Burnes

The Milwaukee Brewers added yet another arm to their expanded September roster earlier this afternoon, announcing the recall of Corbin Burnes from Triple-A San Antonio. In addition to the Burnes move, the Milwaukee made official the release of Jeremy Jeffress and announced the outright of Aaron Wilkerson off the 40-man roster. Both players were designated for assignment on September 1st.

Big things were expected from Burnes at the outset of 2019, but this has largely wound up as a lost season for the 24 year old. After contributing 38.0 innings of 2.61 ERA baseball last year and playing a prominent role out of the bullpen down the stretch and in the playoffs, Burnes was given a rotation spot out of Spring Training but he quickly lost hold of it after four brutal starts. His work out of the bullpen hasn’t been much better, and overall Burnes has posted an even 9.00 ERA in 46.0 innings at the big league level in 2019. He has struck out 67 batters, but he’s also issued 20 walks and served up an astonishing 16 long balls (3.13 HR/9). His last appearance for the Brewers came on July 14th, when he was charged with four runs without recording an out.

Burnes hasn’t fared any better in Triple-A this year, working to an 8.46 ERA in 22.1 innings covering eight appearances (seven starts). He recently spent a stint at the team’s “pitching lab” at their Spring Training complex in Maryvale, going 20 days in between appearances before making his final start for the Missions on August 30th. He yielded five runs in five innings. Now that he’s returned to the active roster with Milwaukee, he figures to pitch out the bullpen down the stretch. He figures to enter his age-25 season in 2020 as one of a number of arms who figure to be competing for spots in the starting rotation during camp.

In addition to the Burnes transaction, the Brewers have also officially cut ties with Jeremy Jeffress. He is now free to sign with any team to pitch down the stretch for a prorated portion of the league minimum. Finally, Aaron Wilkerson remains with the organization for now after clearing outright waivers and getting assigned to Triple-A San Antonio. Wilkerson amassed 35.1 MLB innings for the Brewers from 2017-19 while serving as an arm on the bullpen shuttle, pitching to a 6.88 ERA with 28 strikeouts and 13 walks. In 17 starts for the Missions this season, Wilkerson authored a 3.42 ERA across 76.1 innings pitched, and he owns an overall 3.62 ERA in 251.1 career innings at the highest level of the minors.

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs