Davis Martin’s breakout this year has been all the rage among White Sox fans, but he’s started to come back to earth as of late. Enter Sean Burke, who has taken the mantle recently as the latest White Sox pitcher having a breakout year. For a Sox team battling at the top of their division, his continued excellence is paramount to the White Sox’s post-All-Star break success.
How Sean Burke has cultivated his success
Sean Burke’s fastball this year has been exceptional. Batters are hitting .189 against the pitch, and it's sporting a 35.9% strikeout rate on the year according to Baseball Savant. He locates the pitch heavily into the top of the zone and with almost 19 inches of induced vertical break, this very much gives it that “rising fastball” effect. The pitch averages 94.8 MPH on the year, but he has been able to ramp it up over his last few starts to 97-99, with those velocity boosts coming with 2 strikes. As the weather has been heating up, that average four-seam velocity has gone up, with the pitch averaging 95.4 MPH in June and 96.1 MPH in July.
new career high 11 STRIKEOUTS for Sean Burke 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/6rAS6ZGrUy
— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) July 5, 2026
Sean Burke has made some arsenal adjustments in 2026 as well by throwing his sinker more to righties and adding a cut fastball to the mix against lefties. Neither of those pitches in a vacuum has been particularly good with hitters batting .291 against the two pitches, but he's been using them early in the count as strike stealers. Below is a chart on Sean Burke's pitch usage in each count so far in 2026.
Pitch Count | Changeup | Cut Fastball | Four-Seam Fastball | Curveball | Sinker | Slider |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0-0 | 0.5% | 5.0% | 32.3% | 26.7% | 19.1% | 16.4% |
0-1 | 7.5% | 11.5% | 34.5% | 15.0% | 16.8% | 14.6% |
0-2 | 4.7% | 0.7% | 60.1% | 23.6% | 2.7% | 8.1% |
1-0 | 1.2% | 14.4% | 31.9% | 15.0% | 18.8% | 18.8% |
1-1 | 2.6% | 7.8% | 31.8% | 19.5% | 16.9% | 21.4% |
1-2 | 4.2% | 0.0% | 42.9% | 25.4% | 8.5% | 19.0% |
2-0 | 2.0% | 13.7% | 11.8% | 17.6% | 27.5% | 27.5% |
2-1 | 0.0% | 9.1% | 32.5% | 22.1% | 14.3% | 22.1% |
2-2 | 1.3% | 1.9% | 49.1% | 21.4% | 11.3% | 15.1% |
3-0 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 63.6% | 0.0% | 36.4% | 0.0% |
3-1 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 30.0% | 23.3% | 13.3% | 33.3% |
3-2 | 0.0% | 4.7% | 43.8% | 10.9% | 15.6% | 25.0% |
By mixing in these sinkers and cutters, it's allowed his four-seam fastball to be used less, which, in turn, has made it better. He can now save those four-seam heaters for two-strike counts as a putaway pitch. Burke's changeup has seen its usage decrease with each month of the season, which is for the best because it has never been a reliable pitch for him to this point.
Recent Success and what it means for the White Sox
Entering Sunday's outing against the Blue Jays, Burke has logged 32 innings in his past five outings. In that time frame, he's been a top ten pitcher in ERA (1.69), K% (34.40%), and BB% (4.10%). Lots of strikeouts and minimal walks have meant that 98.5% of base runners have been left stranded against him. Oh, and the team is also 5-0 in the games he has pitched in over that stretch as well. With Davis Martin starting to come back to earth, Sean Burke has really stepped up as Mr. Reliable for the White Sox.
Sean Burke has had hot stretches followed by cold ones before this year, as evidenced by his 2.73 ERA in April that was then followed by a 4.26 ERA in May, so I’m hoping that he’s able to maintain some more consistency the rest of the year. The division is very much winnable this year, and the team has been in a tight battle at the top of it for the past several weeks. Sean Burke has been performing like the guy who you can give the baseball to every five days and feel comfortable that he is going to give you a winning performance, and for this team to win the AL Central, that must continue for the rest of the season.
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