Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Brewers send Burnes to Minor League camp

No. 69 overall prospect reassigned with righty Ortiz, two others
Corbin Burnes sports a 1.74 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in his first two Minor League seasons. (Carlos Osorio/AP)
March 9, 2018

The Brewers began trimming their Major League roster Friday, beginning with the top arm in their farm system.Milwaukee reassigned Corbin Burnes, the club's No. 2 prospect according to MLB.com, to Minor League camp on Friday. Fellow right-hander Luis Ortiz, the Brewers' No. 5 prospect, was also sent down along with

The Brewers began trimming their Major League roster Friday, beginning with the top arm in their farm system.
Milwaukee reassigned Corbin Burnes, the club's No. 2 prospect according to MLB.com, to Minor League camp on Friday. Fellow right-hander Luis Ortiz, the Brewers' No. 5 prospect, was also sent down along with two other pitchers.

Ranked as MLB.com's No. 69 overall prospect, Burnes is coming off a breakout season that placed him among the Minors' top pitchers in 2017. The 2016 fourth-round pick went 8-3 with a 1.67 ERA, 36 walks and 140 strikeouts over 145 2/3 innings with Class A Advanced Carolina and Double-A Biloxi, limiting opponents to a .200 batting average. Those numbers earned him Brewers Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors and helped him finish second in fan voting for MiLB.com's 2017 Top Starting Pitcher MiLBY.
Burnes fared well in three Cactus League appearances with Milwaukee this spring. The California native posted a 2.25 ERA, allowing one run over four innings while walking one and fanning three.

Ortiz, 22, pitched alongside Burnes in Biloxi's rotation last season. Acquired from the Rangers in the Jonathan Lucroy deal at the 2016 deadline, the 2014 first-round pick finished 4-7 with a 4.01 ERA, 37 walks and 79 strikeouts over 94 1/3 frames for the Shuckers. He fanned one in a perfect inning against the Giants in his lone appearance of Spring Training.
Righties Jon Perrin and Erik Davis were also reassigned by the club on Friday.
In other moves:
The Marlins' first camp cuts included two of their top 10 prospects, outfielder Monte Harrison (No. 2) and right-hander Nick Neidert (No. 10). Also assigned to Minor League camp were right-handers Zac Gallen (No. 14) and Trevor Richards (No. 22), while 16th-ranked Merandy Gonzalez and fellow righty Pablo López (No. 24) were optioned to Double-A Jacksonville. 
Harrison, acquired from the Brewers in the Christian Yelich trade, enjoyed a breakout season in 2017. The 22-year-old batted .272/.350/.481 with 21 homers, 67 RBIs and 27 stolen bases in 122 games between Class A Wisconsin and Class A Advanced Carolina. He appeared in nine Grapefruit League games this spring and hit .133 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs. 
Neidert came over from the Mariners in the Dee Gordon deal after going 11-6 with a 3.45 ERA and 122 strikeouts over 127 2/3 innings in 25 starts between Class A Advanced Modesto and Double-A Arkansas. 
* *  
The Reds sent seven players to Triple-A Louisville, including top prospects Shed Long (No. 7), Jose Siri (No. 9), Aristides Aquino (No. 14), Keury Mella (No. 22) and José López (No. 27). Siri has not played above Class A, where last year he set the Midwest League record with a 39-game hitting streak for Dayton.
* * 
The Phillies sent No. 19 prospectDylan Cozens to Minor League camp with infielder Eliezer Álvarez. The 2016 Minor League home run leader struggled against Grapefruit League pitching, batting .174 with 11 strikeouts in 10 games.

Alex Kraft is a contributor to MiLB.com.