Every year leading up to the Major League Baseball season, MLB Network ranks the best players “right now” at each position, and Brewers fans will love the name projected as the best starting pitcher.
That would be Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes, the 2021 Cy Young winner who has pitched three straight seasons on the mound for the Brewers. Not Jacob de Grom, not reigning Cy Young winners Justin Verlander or Sandy Alcantara, not prized offseason acquisitions Max Scherzer or Carlos Rodon. Corbin Burns.
Burns posted a 4-1 record and 2.11 ERA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, a huge bounce back from his nightmare 2019 season in which he posted an 8.82 ERA in 32 games and allowed 17 homers in 49 innings. But he did make a stellar turn in 2021, posting an 11-5 record, 2.43 ERA and 234 strikeouts in 167 innings en route to the National League Cy Young Award. He also pitched eight innings, the first no-hitter for the Brewers since the only other in franchise history, Juan Nieves, in 1987.
In some ways, 2022 was another leap forward, with increases in workload (202 innings), strikeouts (243) and strikeouts per nine innings (6.6 to 6.4). He led the league in swing-and-miss rate (35.2%).
Although his home run count is up (23 compared to 7 a year ago) and his ERA has moved from 2.43 to 2.94, he still produced a quality season that earned him seventh Cy Young honors. in the voting and record a second straight All-Star appearance. .
Burns, 28, shouldn’t be expected to drop forward either. Fangraphs’ ZiPS annual projections suggest Burns will be the most valuable pitcher in baseball this season, while the site’s Steamer projections have him second only to deGrom, who just signed with the Texas Rangers and a dominant force if healthy. :
There is one small reef; Burnes and the Brewers have yet to agree on a contract through the 2023 season and currently appear to be headed for an arbitration hearing, with Burns offering $10.75 million in salary and the Brewers offering $10.01 million. The two sides could still reach an agreement before the hearing. Otherwise, an arbitrator will hear the case and choose which dollar figure will go into effect in 2023. Burns remains under team control as an arbitration-eligible player in 2024, but will be a free agent through the 2025 season if the club and player sign a contract extension;
JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or [email protected] Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.
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