8:38 pm: Jeff Wilson of the Dallas Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the team has confirmed Burke’s imminent call-up; he will indeed split action on Tuesday with fellow rookie Joe Palumbo (link).
August 16th: The Rangers, seeking a starter for half of their Tuesday doubleheader against the Angels, are considering calling up left-hander Brock Burke, Jeff Wilson of the Forth Worth Star-Telegram reports. It would be the major league debut for the 23-year-old Burke, who’s already on the Rangers’ 40-man roster.
“We’re kind of hoping that Burke would be that day,” manager Chris Woodward said. “We’re still debating it, but I would love to see Burke.”
Burke, who broke into the pros as a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in 2014, is in his first season with the Texas organization. The Rangers acquired him last offseason from the Rays in a three-team trade with the A’s that centered on infielder Jurickson Profar.
While Burke was the Rays’ minor league pitcher of the year in his final season with them, he has endured an injury-shortened 2019. Burke missed a large chunk of time with blister and shoulder problems earlier in the season, though he has pitched to an exceptional 3.18 ERA/2.76 FIP with 9.73 K/9, 2.38 BB/9 and a 50.9 percent groundball rate in 45 1/3 innings at the Double-A level. The Rangers promoted Burke to Triple-A Nashville earlier this month, but he has only made two starts and combined for eight innings of seven-run, 12-hit ball at that level so far.
Burke currently ranks as the Rangers’ seventh-best prospect at MLB.com, which contends he has the “ceiling of a mid-rotation starter.” He’s unlikely to provide that type of production in MLB right now, though, with Wilson noting that Burke hasn’t amassed more than 88 pitches in an outing this year. Ergo, if Burke does enter the majors in the coming days, his initial stay in the league may not last long. But Burke might be able to push for a rotation spot in 2020, as it’s likely that Mike Minor and Lance Lynn are the lone Texas starters who have clinched jobs for next year (if the club doesn’t trade either of them, of course).
Texas is a hitters park…trade him before the value goes
Theyre changing parks next year
Shhhh leave him alone. He thinks he made a clever comment.
All the more reason why they need all the pitching they can get.
Do the Rangers have a good pipeline of prospects, or will they continue to be a franchise that is fairly pathetic for the foreseeable future? Really, this organization is pretty much a joke. What an embarrassment when compared to that team down in Houston. Dallas should up their game, what a joke!
Like the sox..they could never scout pitching nor sign good pitching
So so. They have alot of high ceilings that either havent put it together yet or have been held back by injuries. But, theyve never been exceptional at scouting or developing prospects esp pitching. Gallo and teixeira r prolly the biggest success stories and one took 5 yrs and other was 15 yrs ago. And then u look at the pitching… Derek holland, cj wilson, dillon tate, thomas diamond, justin thompson.
I wouldn’t put C.J and Holland with the Thomas Diamonds and Dillon Tates of failed Rangers’ prospects.
C.J Wilson put up back to back 5 WAR seasons for the Rangers before leaving in free agency, and Holland (inconsistent as he was) at his best was a 4 win guy and big part of the World Series contending teams of the early 2010’s.
While the Rangers have never been consistently great like the Rays or Dodgers in churning out peospects, their best teams were made of good trades, smart free agency decisions, and enough homegrown talent. They’re still a few years from playoff contention, which is why i was hoping for a Minor trade, but at least they still know how to work free agency.
I find this comment a joke. Just because the Astro succeed now doesn’t make them better organization. Houston was rebuilding when Texas was in the World Series.
Houston is 10 years older with only 3 more playoff appearances and same number of World Series appearances.
Even Yanks and Dodgers have had rebuilding years. All teams have ebbs and flows. Texas is currently restocking the farm while also trying to sign talent to be competitive.
But hey there Mr. Baseball I’m sure you already knew those answers.
The Rangers have never played in dallas.
The Rangers traded a lot of their top prospects to try and win a title….while your Enron Field team was busy trading all their prospects to tank and move up in the draft. Trading to lose? That’s the Houston way, chump.
You realize the Rangers have been one of the best teams in baseball for 5+ years. The Astros were garbage for 15 years. It’s about time they turned it around. They were at the top of every draft.
Lol yes they had a good pipeline. Houston was one of the worst teams in baseball for 10 years and had multiple #1 picks. It would be pretty embarrassing if Houston wasn’t good right now.
The rangers have been a much better team through Houston’s run of success than Houston ever was through the Rangers. Houston did pick 1st for what seemed like a decade to get to where they are now.
Exams fly
Exactly. The Rangers used to fill up Houston’s ballpark because no Astros fans around. Look at them come out of the woodwork now
I think the only time in recent memory that Texas had any kind of minor league pitching prospect depth was when some guy named Ryan said they had to pitch MORE and push deeper into games, ignoring pitch counts. What did he know, though…
Yep, good thing Jeff Luhnow lets Nolan make all the decisions in Houston! …
I know this comment is analytically ridiculous but when Nolan Ryan was working with the Rangers they won. Now he is working with the Astros and they win. I believe in good luck charms, especially when they know how to pitch…..
I mean it is also pretty easy to make a counter argument that Ryan just switched team affiliations at the right time. Does anyone really think that he has that much pull in the front office of either organization?
Nope. Reid has more pull than Nolan