GLENDALE, Ariz. — A year ago at this time, White Sox right-hander Sean Burke was preparing to be the team’s Opening Day starter.
The gamble to start Burke, who had four major-league starts before getting the nod, paid off initially. Burke threw six scoreless innings on Opening Day in an 8-1 Sox win over the Angels. But Burke’s performance took a sharp downturn.
Burke wasn’t striking out hitters and struggling to go deep into starts, depleting the bullpen as a result. He wasn’t getting ahead of hitters and struggled to induce swings-and-misses. It became untenable to the point that he was demoted to Triple-A Charlotte in August.
The club publicly supported him but also made it known that he and right-hander Joanthan Cannon would have to win a spot in the rotation during spring training.
“It’s easy to look at like the rollercoaster of the year, but for me, I just take away the highs of it,” said Burke, who posted a 4.22 ERA last season. “When things are going well for me, I’m up there competing against the best guys in the world and showing I can get those guys out consistently. So it’s not really much about changing a ton of stuff I’m doing. It’s more just being consistent.”
But until his last spring training start, the results hadn’t followed. He entered the outing with a 4.97 ERA but proceeded to mow through the Mariners’ lineup. Burke threw five innings, allowing two runs on three hits with six strikeouts and a walk.
“I’m ready to get to the real thing at this point,” Burke said. “But happy to end on a good one; get in a good rhythm.”
Spring-training performances are often fool’s gold. Spring standouts often turn into regular-season disappointments and vice versa. But it was the way Burke pitched that gave him confidence.
The key for Burke is the four-seamer. He doesn’t project to be a guy that pitches to contact, so getting swings-and-misses with the fastball will be his bread-and-butter. He incurred 11 whiffs on Sunday.
“We talked a ton throughout [spring training], specifically with [assistant pitching coach Bobby Hearn], and [new pitching coach Zach Bove] about leveraging counts and attacking hitters,” Burke said. “That’s been my main focus and just sticking to that. I think a good example of that is when I got hit around a little bit in that first inning [March 5 loss against Cleveland] a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s sticking to the plan and knowing over a large sample, if I’m attacking the zone and making good pitches, that’s not going to happen more often than not over a large sample size. Just trying not to deviate from that plan. Be consistent with that.”
Consistency is what eluded Burke for much of last season. He would pair tantilizing flashes— like his 10-strikeout performance in the final game of the year — with subpar performances — like allowing six runs and three homers over five innings in a July start against the Blue Jays.
His potential has dimmed after last year’s inconsistencies, and his leash will likely be short because the team trying to take a meaningful step forward. But Burke showed the team enough this spring to award him not just a spot in the rotation, but also the No. 2 spot.
Now it’s on Burke to reward the coaching staff’s faith and show through his performance that he should remain in the rotation.
“He continues to be creative in ways to get guys out, and he’s done a really nice job,” manager Will Venable said.