Biloxi Shuckers pitcher continues quick ascension through minor leagues

In terms of ERA, the best pitcher in all of Minor League Baseball plays for the Biloxi Shuckers. Corbin Burnes was a fourth round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016 and that may not have been high enough.
If you don’t know who he is, he’s the one with the goggles which is all part of his identity out there on the mound.
“(Are you playing the best baseball you’ve ever played right now?) Yeah, I’d say so.” The numbers would say so as well. 0.97: Corbin Burnes’ 2017 ERA across 14 Minor League starts. 0.76: his ERA in four starts with the Shuckers. And one pair of prescription specs. “The summer before college I always had problems with contacts, always getting messed up, losing contacts during a game, couldn’t see so I was like let’s make the transition to glasses. And ever since that point it’s kind of stuck with me, and it’s kind of my image now.”
Burnes says the glasses aren’t bulletproof, but his heater might be. “I love my fastball. If I can go out and attack every hitter with a fastball I would, but at this level, probably not the smartest thing. You’re going to get hit around pretty hard, but I definitely consider myself more of an aggressive pitcher because I like to go after hitters and don’t want to shy away from anyone.”
Equally as aggressive has been his ascension through the Brewers farm system. It took Burnes less than a year to reach the AA level and he didn’t even get the chance to finish his final game with the Carolina Mudcats. “Just finished the sixth inning, pitch count wasn’t high at all. And the manager, Joe Ayrault, came off the field and he was like you know this is the last time I get to shake your hand, you’re going to AA. Kind of announced it to the dugout, which is pretty cool. Also kind of weird mid-game, you’re like okay this guy is leaving us now, but yeah, no it was pretty cool.”
And the man with the goggles is showing no signs of slowing down. In his last start with Biloxi, Burnes threw a seven inning complete game shutout, giving up just four hits and striking out seven. In his mind, it should’ve been a no-no. “People call me a bit of a perfectionist, which probably in some cases is true. I like to execute every pitch the way I want to and some pitches I leave a pitch up and get a hit. Or even you’ll see me on the occasional strikeout where I get lucky and a guy swings through a pitch that he probably shouldn’t have, he probably should have hit it over the fence. But I definitely get on myself a lot, but I think that’s helped drive me and get me better.”
Biloxi Shuckers Manager Mike Guerrero said, “Anybody that has the talent and the skill plus the attitude that he has, has that X-factor on him. It will be nice to see him one year from now.”
Starting tomorrow, the Shuckers will play a six game road series versus the Birmingham Barons. Burnes will take his turn in the rotation in game one.