Chicago White Sox: Looking at new 3rd round pick Sean Burke

Whenever there is a Major League Baseball draft, the first-round picks will always have the early shine. However, the Chicago White Sox made some really nice picks in addition to Colson Montgomery that could be impact players one day. As we have seen from more than half of their roster, the draft has been a success story for them in recent years and it isn’t just the first round. One of them is Sean Burke, who the White Sox selected in the third round of the 2021 MLB Draft.

Burke is a right-handed pitcher from Maryland. He is the first player that the White Sox selected from college rather than high school which is somewhat new for them. They are historically college-heavy in the early rounds but they made it through two rounds without selecting one this time around. Burke is also the first pitcher they selected in the draft.

The 21-year-old righty is a big kid that stands at 6’6″ and 230 lbs. It is going to be interesting to see how he uses that frame to pitch as he progresses through the White Sox organization. His player development will be one of the more interesting ones to watch over the next few years. This is an organization that has done a good job developing pitching lately so he is in good hands.

MLB Pipeline uses the 20-80 scale to evaluate talent. Burke has four pitches graded for him. He has a 60 graded fastball, a 55 graded slider, a 55 graded curveball, and a 45 graded changeup. His control was given a 45 and overall a 50. They believe he is an average pitcher with an above-average fastball. There is work to be done with his changeup obviously but the offspeed stuff seems to have potential as well.

The Chicago White Sox are hoping that Sean Burke is a great player for them one day.

What is it going to take to get Sean Burke through the White Sox organization to the MLB level? Well, for one, it is the development of his breaking stuff. If he can start throwing that changeup more as well so he can get that going well, he should have a really nice chance. He will be working with great people to make sure that happens.

The White Sox got him signed so he is officially a part of the organization. With the way that things have gone for other pitchers like him on the team, there is plenty of reasons to be excited about him. He is a really nice kid that believes in himself so we will see what happens. It will certainly be fun to keep up with over the years.