Burke Excited About 2022
White Sox 2021 3rd Round selection Sean Burke tells WSD's Dan Victor about his focus for the upcoming 2022 season.
His nickname is “top shelf” or simply “shelf.” It’s quite literal, as the White Sox 2021 third round pick Sean Burke explains he was tagged with this moniker because he is tall and able to reach items placed on the top shelf. Hailing from Worcester, Massachusetts, the 6’6” 240 lb. right-handed fireballer played collegiately for the University of Maryland before being plucked by the south siders with the 94th overall selection in the 2021 draft. This may end up representing a shrewd bargain as MLB Pipeline ranked him as the 75th best prospect from his draft class.
As high school teammates that have found success as major league pitchers, the triumvirate of Lucas Giolito, Max Fried, and Jack Flaherty has earned a lot of press in baseball circles. Somewhat of a parallel exists for Burke, and his close friends Ian Seymour and Ryan Cusick. Burke and Seymour (the Rays second round pick in the 2020 draft), played prep baseball together at St. John’s high school. Cusick, the Braves first round pick in 2021 became the third Musketeer through travel ball ties with Seymour and a link to Burke established at Cressey Sports Performance; a shared coaching and training facility. Burke gives credit to his personal wolf pack as the three maintained close contact while he and Cusick navigated the draft process and embarked on their first minor league seasons. He shared, “We were always able to bounce stuff off each other and ask questions when one of us wasn’t sure or was curious about something. They are both good friends and we talk regularly.”
With early draft picks and over slot ($900K) signing bonuses come great expectations, but the right-hander seems poised to live up to the hype. Sitting in the mid-nineties and touching 97 mph, his four-seam fastball is his preferred weapon for stealing hitter’s souls. In order of personal confidence, the hurler lists his traditional pitch mix as fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup. He highlighted improving his slider velocity as one of his primary off-season goals. Advanced analytics suggest that sliders thrown more than 85 mph create a significant statistical drop in a batter’s expected WOBA (weighted on base average). A more firmly thrown slider with a narrower band of velo separation from a fastball becomes harder to recognize as it leaves the hand. Increased slider velocity appears to be an organizational focus of White Sox player development throughout all levels of the minor leagues.
Burke’s mantra on the mound is a simple one as he shares with White Sox Daily, “My goal is to attack every hitter with my fastball and be in the zone as much as possible.” Employing a hybrid approach to pitching, he embraces the analytics of his craft but avoids the “paralysis by analysis trap.” Rather than fixating on these measurables during the season, especially during games, he finds value in the data and views analytics as a tool for improving his stuff. He understands what the numbers should look like when he is pitching well, but on the mound his focus lies solely on the hitter versus pitcher battle. Rather than chasing optimized spin rates, extension, or vertical approach angles he feels that the numbers come organically from his efforts.
Although he struck out 20 hitters in 14 Low-A innings, his strike throwing percentage was 59% while the major league average was around 63%. In college, command hiccups created a slight blemish on his prospect profile as the Terps staff ace walked 5.1 per nine innings during his sophomore season. In his defense, he was one season removed from Tommy John surgery. Command is often said to be the last piece of a pitcher’s skill set to return following rehabilitation from the procedure. The best players tend to be self-aware, and Burke is no exception. He recognizes the work ahead and accepts that there is a long road to navigate before reaching his destination at 35th and Shields. He has been working on his fastball command with pitching coach Everett Teaford. Practicing with purpose, he focuses on throwing four seamers to his glove side and follows up by picking a location on the nine-pocket strike zone while zeroing in on hitting his spots.
One thing that stands out about Burke is his makeup. He’s a mature young man and seems well-equipped to handle the inevitable failure that comes with being a baseball player. He credits, his college coach Rob Vaughn for lending him perspective and states, “He (Vaughn) stressed to everyone not to put the game on a pedestal, there is so much more to you as a person than just who you are on the field.” This mindset is likely to bode well as Burke faces the challenges of the often-humbling minor league grind.
With most young pitchers, it’s as if you can see them unraveling when they lose the strike zone or feel squeezed by an umpire. Burke appears to have an ability to rise to the occasion when it’s gut check time. It’s as if he seems to find an inner Zen and becomes laser focused when facing adversity. The hurler suggests, “When things aren’t going well, I try to block out everything and focus on executing my pitches one at a time. This helps me limit damage and dig myself out of some holes.”
In 2021 it seems that most White Sox prospect hype focused on the development of recent prep drafted bonus babies Jared Kelley, Matthew Thompson, and Drew Dalquist. In the youthful organization, as a physically mature and more polished college draftee, Burke has a legitimate chance to fly up organizational prospect rankings in 2022. He possesses the straight out of central casting look of an MLB power pitcher. His minor league teammate Gil Luna Jr. shares, “Off the bat Burke passes the eye test. His big build is the definition of a pitcher’s body.” Luna also offered that his Arizona Complex League roommate is an unyielding competitor and stated, “When he’s out there on the mound he always gives us a solid chance.”
Another trait that bodes well for Burke is his athleticism. In addition to baseball, he starred on his St. John’s high school varsity basketball squad all four years. Although he professes a love for the hard court, he knew his future was on the pitcher’s mound where he compiled a miniscule 0.44 ERA his junior season before registering an even lower 0.36 during his encore senior campaign.
White Sox fans should be excited about the package that Burke brings to the table. His pitcher’s build and premium athleticism paired with his makeup offer the combination of a high ceiling and a safe floor. For now, the White Sox will develop the righty as a rotation piece. If he can’t put everything together as a starter, he has every pre-requisite teams typically look for in a high-leverage reliever.
Fans may be sleeping on him due to the presence of so many high-profile prep players from the last three drafts. However, he doesn't have a chip on his shoulder. Instead, he stays focused on the prize and suggested that he found his first minor league season to be eye opening. “I caught a glimpse of how long the season is compared to anything I’ve played before. Just understanding how to take care of my body and mind to put me in the best spot each time out was the most important lesson to me.” He continued, “My first year in pro ball was a lot of learning and a pretty hectic time with everything new being thrown at me. Now that I’m comfortable in the system I’m feeling really good.”
What are his hopes for the future? “I want to be ready to pitch in Chicago next year, and I know I can, it’s just all about putting the pieces together consistently.”
Speaking for Sox fans, we like the sound of that.