Mike Burrows is unique among the Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation in that no other pitcher throws a changeup as frequently as he does.

Per Statcast, it’s Burrows’ No. 2 most utilized pitch, behind only the four-seam fastball.

Burrows throws it 23.8% of the time, compared to Andrew Heaney (17.4%), Paul Skenes (9.3%) and Mitch Keller (7.4%). Bailey Falter’s repertoire doesn’t include the pitch.

“I wouldn’t venture to say that’s too off-base to say it’s my best pitch,” Burrows said. “I love using it; it’s a great pitch. I think it’s definitely one that’s been overlooked for the past couple years in a way. There’s been a sweeper that came out, now cutters are the thing and I think the changeup has kind of always been there, but it’s been the unsung hero.”

Burrows began throwing a changeup in the middle of the 2021 campaign, when he was with the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Previously, coming out of Waterford High School in Connecticut as an 11th-round pick (No. 324 overall) by the Pirates in 2018, Burrows was primarily a fastball-curveball pitcher.

But incorporating a changeup impacted how Burrows could attack hitters.

“It got everybody off the fastball, so I could utilize that more effectively,” Burrows said. “Because if everything coming at (batters) straight was a fastball, it just got a little bit easier for them. So the changeup helped that out.

“At the time, because we were in-season, we figured it’d be the easiest and it just came down to messing with grips, messing around with stuff, getting a feel for it during games and getting confidence with it in games. By 2022, we were full use with it. But I’d say the usage is definitely more than then, right now.”

LOOK AT THESE WHIFFS

He has 5 strikeouts after facing 9 batters though 3 innings pic.twitter.com/IvQYjSP816

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) July 25, 2025

Burrows, 25, is now two months into his first extended taste of big-league action after getting called up from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 21.

He’s made 11 starts, going 1-3 with a 4.15 ERA, 53 strikeouts and 20 walks in 52 innings.

His first two outings in May were rough, as he allowed eight earned runs over 8 1/3 innings for an 8.64 ERA.

But since then, Burrows has displayed some growth, posting a 2.73 ERA in June and delivering his first MLB quality start Friday against the Diamondbacks. He is scheduled to start Wednesday’s series finale in San Francisco.

“He’s trending up,” manager Don Kelly said. “When you say trending up, I think we always want it to be linear and be straight up. But we know in the game of baseball, it’s never going to be straight up. How do we continue to bounce back?

“He’s shown that resiliency in the middle of games and also in between starts, too, in continuing to refine his craft, understand what the other team is trying to do against him and continue to dominate with the stuff that has made him really, really good.”

Burrows has been largely pleased with his body of work thus far.

“I definitely can’t be mad about it,” Burrows said. “I feel like really more so than there’s been bad games, there’s just been some bad innings where there were a bunch of runs. If you cut out three innings this year, it might be a lot different right now, a lot better.

“Just trying to wipe those, move onto the next one and get better in those moments of guys on base, not letting the game speed up and staying in the moment. Just staying in rhythm.”

The three innings Burrows referred to came July 12 in Minnesota, when the Twins roughed him up for a six-run frame; four earned runs he let up May 27 against Arizona in his second appearance with the Pirates; and his first big-league outing of 2025, when Milwaukee scored three runs off him early May 22.

Those three innings accounted for 13 of Burrows’ combined 24 earned runs (54%). Minus those 13 runs, and Burrows’ ERA would drop from 4.15 to 1.90.

Burrows admits he still has a lot to learn about being a big-leaguer and executing pitches in the major leagues.

But he already has made strides toward proving he belongs.

“I think I’ve gotten comfortable in the role now,” Burrows said. “The more you throw to big-league guys, the more understanding you are and more understanding you become of the game. Not that it’s a different one, there’s just a lot better hitters in the lineup, consistently every night. It’s really just trying to play the back-and-forth game and understanding certain guys’ tendencies.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)