One-Time Tigers 1st-Round Pick Signs With NL East Team

By Jon Vankin

Contributing Sports Writer

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In 2015, Beau Burrows was an overpowering right-handed high school pitcher from Weatherford, Texas, who was such a highly regarded prospect that the Detroit Tigers made him their first-round draft pick, and signed him with a $2.1 million bonus. By 2019 he had risen to be the Tigers No. 6 overall prospect. He had also been ranked among the top 100 prospects in baseball by both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.

“It was awesome,” Burrows told The Athletic later. “A great feeling. I was on top of the world for a year or two.”

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But a series of injuries unraveled Burrows' career. He bounced among five organizations and he started this year pitching in the Mexican League. But on May 7, the Pittsburgh Pirates saw something in him and signed him to a minor league contract, as listed on the MiLB.com transactions page. By the end of the season, the Pirates had promoted Burrows all the way through their farm system to the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians.

Across four minor league levels, Burrows posted a solid 2.91 ERA in 49 innings out of the bullpen. He performed well enough that after the season he elected to enter free agency.

Three weeks later, on Wednesday, the Pirates signed him back.

More MLB: Giants Trade For Ex-Top 100 Prospect, Giving Up No Players in Return

"This is exactly the kind of low-risk, upside-only reunion that the Pirates love to make. Burrows isn’t being handed a rotation spot or being promised leverage innings, but he's being given another runway," wrote Emma Lingan of the Pirates site RumBunter.

Did his numbers in 2025 show that Burrows is finally on the path to reviving the promise he showed as a young prospect? If he can prove that next season, he may find himself in Pittsburgh as a bullpen arm to support a young and talented starting staff headed by Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes.

If he shows that the Triple-A level is his ceiling, however, Burrows is likely looking at the end of his baseball career at the age of 30.

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