Burnes dominates in first Double-A win

In late March, Corbin Burnes turned a corner when he made a subtle adjustment in his delivery.
"I was always the sidesaddle guy, kind of like the David Price, Marcus Stroman look," Burnes said. "And in Spring Training, [the coaching staff] squared me up in a more conventional type of delivery. It's helped me get into my legs more and take a lot of pressure off my arm. It's really helped my command, which is really night-and-day from last year to this year."
As a direct result, Milwaukee's No. 20 prospect posted his first win in Double-A after giving up one hit and one walk with eight strikeouts over six innings in Biloxi's 3-0 win over Jacksonville on Monday at MGM Park.

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"Stuff-wise, everything was just working well," Burnes said. "As of last week, I've been trying to work on command on offspeed pitches better and commanding the fastball in the zone. I had a good gameplan with [Jacob Nottingham] behind the plate and just went out there and executed the pitches."
The right-hander didn't allow a hit through the first 3 2/3 innings. Then Marlins No. 25 prospectJohn Norwood walked and Austin Nola lined a single to center field.
"For most of these guys, it's just about getting ahead of the count early," Burnes said. "They are a good fastball-hitting team, so the key was to keep them out of fastball counts by getting ahead and get the offspeed stuff in."
He rebounded by inducing Alex Yarbrough to ground out to second to end the Jumbo Shrimp's lone scoring threat.
In the bottom half of that frame, Burnes collected his first professional RBI. After consecutive singles by Angel Ortega, Johnny Davis and Javier Betancourt loaded the bases, the California native lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Davis to give Biloxi a 2-0 lead.  
"It felt good," Burnes said with a laugh. "It's been a while since I've hit. The last regular ABs I've had was in high school, so I was just trying to go up there and put the ball in play. Tonight, I got one in the air, got some speed on third base in Johnny Davis and got an RBI out of it."
The Saint Mary's College product recorded four whiffs over the next two frames and plunked third-ranked Miami prospect Brian Anderson with two outs in the sixth. Burnes ended his outing having thrown 64 of 92 pitches for strikes.

"I can kind of tell from the bullpen what stuff is working and what stuff isn't," he said. "I've had outings throughout the year where I haven't had really any offspeed pitches and just had to attack with the fastball and show the other stuff. Every outing has been different.
"Today, all the pitches were good in the bullpen. I've been really working hard on the changeup lately. I have a great pitching coach in Chris Hook, and he gave me a couple of pointers last week and it's really helped me. The changeup was one of the better out pitches tonight."
Burnes (1-0) lowered his ERA to 1.08 in three Double-A outings after being promoted on May 30 from Class A Advanced Carolina, where he posted a 1.05 ERA through 10 starts. The Shuckers are the fourth team the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder has suited up for after being taken in the fourth round last year.
"It's just crazy to think that it's only been a year since I've heard my name called on Draft Day," Burnes said. "It's just been a great ride. But the biggest thing for me is just try to focus on playing the game and not what level I'm at and how I'm doing, because the results are going to take care of themselves.
"For me, it's just going out there and do what I can every day and put in 100 percent whether it's on the field, in the weight room or whatever it is, just preparing myself for each start." 
Tayler Scott tossed two perfect innings of relief and Matt Ramsey worked around a single and a walk in the ninth for his 15th save of the season.
The Shuckers got two hits apiece from Blake Allemand, Nottingham and Davis.