Having a good bullpen is very important for the Chicago White Sox. They had one in 2021 but they could use some more help there as any team in the league could. Ryan Burr provided some depth at times for Tony La Russa as he tried to manage his way through the regular season and into the playoffs.
They didn’t go far in the postseason because of the fact that the Houston Astros are significantly better but they learned a lot about certain players going forward. Burr is someone who clearly wanted to be a contributor in 2021 and he was.
La Russa certainly didn’t use Burr in many high leverage situations but he did give him a chance to show his stuff from time to time. He has a long way to go in his development but he certainly proved his worth on the roster.
In 34 appearances, he pitched in 36.2 innings. In those games, he had a 2.45 ERA and a 1.336 WHIP. He didn’t allow many runners to score which is nice but he did have a high number of hits and walks which is something that he needs to work on. He did, however, strike out 33 hitters which is a very nice stat for him.
He should be proud of the way that his season went in 2021 after not playing at all in 2020. In 2018 and 2019, he was pretty bad which means he improved a lot and used his time away to his advantage. If he can keep that going, the White Sox would love to have him in the bullpen going forward.
2021 was a really nice year for Ryan Burr of the Chicago White Sox.
2021 Final Grade: B
Ryan Burr gets a B. He was awesome in his role. He didn’t give up a lot of runs when he pitched which is something that the White Sox needed from their bullpen down the stretch. With some of the other elite pitchers that they had in the bullpen with him, he didn’t look out of place at all.
The reason it is a B instead of an A is because of the fact that we need to see him lower the WHIP. It is hard to see the low ERA as sustainable if he is walking batters and allowing hits at a high frequency. This year was a great step as he looks to become a full-time MLB reliever.
2022 Expectations:
He will be with the White Sox organization in 2022. Whether or not he is with the MLB club on Opening Day is up to him. He will get innings in spring training so it is important that he takes advantage of this offseason as his career might be on the line. You can be confident that he will be, at minimum, a solid bullpen option.