In a move that caught me by surprise, White Sox manager Will Venable named Sean Burke his Opening Day starter. The 2021 third-round draft pick came up at the end of the 2024 season for a quick cup of coffee, performed well, and continued his stretch of good pitching into spring training.
In three starts last season, Burke went 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA against a couple of tough teams. He won his first major league start against the Athletics, took a no-decision against the Padres in his second start, and got his second big league win facing the Tigers. He maxed out at six innings in his start against the Padres but earned quality starts in all his outings in 2024.
Clearly, Burke has earned Venable’s trust to start the season, even though his spring training numbers have raised some eyebrows. Traditionally, Burke’s strength has been his elite strikeout ability—last year in the minors, he posted a 33% strikeout rate, following strong showings of 29.4% in 2022 and 20.5% in 2023. During his MLB cameo last September, he struck out nearly 29% of batters faced.
The main area of concern for Burke is command. In the lower minors, his walk rate sat between 9% and 10.6%, but at Triple-A, that figure spiked alarmingly to 16%, finishing his minor league tenure in 2024 with a troubling 13.3%.
During his brief major league stint, he managed to cut walks to a more manageable 9.2%, though this spring, that number has crept back up to 12%, paired with a concerning dip in strikeouts to 15%. While spring training stats shouldn’t set off alarms just yet, Burke’s command issues and declining strikeout rate are worth monitoring as Opening Day approaches.
It’s entirely possible Burke hasn’t unleashed his best stuff this spring, instead using outings to stretch out his arm and refine his approach. He’ll likely get at least two more starts to fine-tune everything before the real games begin.
When the season kicks off, Burke will feature a five-pitch mix: a four-seam fastball, changeup, slider, curveball, and his intriguing new sinker. According to FanGraphs’ Stuff+, his fastball (109) and changeup (103) both grade out above league average, but his breaking pitches—the curveball and slider—grade slightly below average. Interestingly, Burke leaned heavily on those breaking balls in 2024, especially the curve when ahead in counts. How he adjusts his pitch selection and effectiveness will be a key storyline in his development this season.
One thing to watch this season is Burke’s new sinker. Though he’s only experimented sparingly with it this spring (just five percent of pitches thrown), the pitch has consistently hit between 93-95 MPH. If he can master it, the sinker could become a crucial weapon in his arsenal for generating ground balls and escaping jams.
The White Sox have clearly signalled their intention to let the young players shine this season, and giving Burke the Opening Day nod aligns perfectly with that philosophy.
He’ll need to improve his control to reduce the number of free passes he’s allowed this spring, but Burke has already proven he can compete with some of baseball’s best hitters. The addition of a promising sinker only strengthens his potential to consistently record outs and keep the Sox competitive, at least until the bullpen takes over. For Sox fans, Burke’s progress and performance as a starter this year and beyond should be fascinating to watch.
Featured image photo of Sean Burke by Matt Dirksen/Getty Images.
Article by Jack Turek. Watch out for more Chicago White Sox content from Jack during the 2025 season.
