May 13, 2026 • 10 mins
Astros starter Mike Burrows joined Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler on The A-Team to discuss his latest dominant outing, explain how adjustments on the pitching rubber are paying dividends, share insight into the clubhouse atmosphere during Houston’s rough stretch, and much more.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So our player guest today is Mike Burrows. Mike, you
(00:02):
got Adam and Adam here with you this afternoon. As
you guys are in the midst of a seven game
homestand a stretch of thirteen consecutive games of baseball. You
had the start to open up the first of those
thirteen games last weekend in Cincinnati. But I wanted to
open with a really odd question taking you back a
couple of years. Does the number three seven five zero
(00:22):
mean anything.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
To you, Mike, No, not off the top of my head.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
All right, listen up and see if this jogs your
memory from twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Pirates select draft ID three seven five zero, Burrows, Michael,
a right handed starter from Waterford High School in Waterford, Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
That's the number they gave you when you were in
the draft in twenty eighteen. As as you heard a
Pirate's eleventh round draft pick. I want to take you
back to both that day and the decision that had
to be made because you were all ready to go
to where I'm sure you wanted to go all along
Yukon and ultimately had to make a big decision.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, I thought I was going to get taken day
two by a couple of different teams, and it just
didn't work out. Numbers didn't work out. I went to
dinner with my dad that night, going to going to school.
So next day I woke up, you know, I mean
I probably had two weeks of high school left, so
I was just going in for normal classes and got
(01:20):
a call, and you know, the money started. Money stuff
started being figured out. After day two and I got
a call that I was going to get taken, So
I actually left school that day and then, yeah, I
kind of celebrated getting drafted and stuff working out that day.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Was it a pretty difficult decision again, an eleventh round pick.
I think a lot of people are aware sometimes that,
especially recently as the draft has changed a little bit,
kind of when teams might select a player, they believe
they've got money in their pool to you know, give
a little bit more to maybe convince them that they
can better make a professional career by getting it started
(01:57):
now rather than going to school. Talking with at the school,
the organization, and your family, how'd you come to the
decision that this was was a path you wanted to take.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, I think it was my family more than anything.
I didn't uh, I didn't have an agent through that process,
so it was definitely wild experience experiencing it as a
player and kind of an agent myself, and you know,
talking to teams and kind of trying to use your
words carefully and understand that you have leverage. You know
that you're you're planning on going to school, and I
(02:28):
truly was. I was ready to go to Yukon, but
I had a number of mine and if it, if it,
you know, came came to it came to be, then
uh I was going to go. I thought I was ready.
You know, it was really just about getting getting the
right amount of money, would you know, make me forego
that experience of college and uh maybe possibly you know,
(02:49):
working up the draft board three years later.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Agents are overrated anyway, right, you got it done.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I mean, I don't know, it's tough to say I had.
I definitely had quote unquote advisors people that were in
the game, not agents, but it just kind of guided
me a little bit and just took their advice and
ran with it.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well, we're and we're talking to Mike Burrows astros starter
here on Sports Talk seven ninety. We won't sugarcoat it.
It's rough right now. I think I feel like I've
asked this question an inordinate amount of times, regardless of
who the guest was, over the last several weeks. What
is the mood like in the clubhouse right now? Because
I know that for people like us and the fans
(03:34):
and even maybe some members of the organization, it's different
from a day to day, hour to hour basis than
it is inside that clubhouse when you're actually living it.
So what does Mike Burrows think about the current state
of affairs in the Astros clubhouse?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously after after games end,
it's you know, everybody's a little glum about it. You know,
everybody kind of has to sit on that egg that
you know, we're not exactly living up to our expectations
of you know, how we want to be playing and
how we want to be finishing out games. But you know,
every day of the new day, so we show up,
you know, with the you know, with an attitude that
(04:10):
we're gonna we're gonna steer the ship in the right direction,
you know, because I mean, you don't want that energy
to keep feeding into the next day and working into
that next game. So I'd say every day, you know,
just coming in fresh attitude, fresh day of mind, and
getting after it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You had an interview the other day with the TV
side or at Space City Home Network, and it was
something we noticed when you were pitching, and it was
brought up by Steve Sparks during that interview that for
this most recent start that you made, you're you're on
a little bit different trajectory towards home plate with where
you've lined up and situated yourself on the rubber. Is
that something more from your end of just going through
(04:45):
the things you know that might work best for you,
or was it a conversation with Josh Miller, Christian Vasquez,
et cetera. What went into the decision to go from
that spot on the rubber.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, I think it was a you know, somewhat of
a desperate time calls for a desperate measure, So just
trying something there in the best place to try it
is in the game. You know, that's where you're going
to see the results. That's where you're going to see,
you know, kind of how it's going to play. That's
the best place to see it. It's against live hitters
in the game. So I didn't think he was gonna.
(05:16):
I definitely didn't think it was gonna hurt, and you know,
I worked over there for a long time, so kind
of just moving back to the other side.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
One of the things that I know was brought up
after you were acquired by the Astros in December, by
our listeners, by ourselves quite a few times over those
months before you got to spring training, is what you
might have been able to learn from somebody. Everybody here's
familiar with Brent Strom, who spent so many time years
here with Houston helping cultivate and develop pitchers and work
to their strength, and obviously he was there in Pittsburgh
(05:43):
with you. From your standpoint, what did you get from
working with him?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, I think I think one of the things was
my direction, because at one point when I first met Strom,
I was really stepping out of the box towards left
handed hitter and working a lot of my direction towards
the left ended hitter, and I just kind of over
that year just made a drastic change and really started
stepping towards the right hint hitter. And it was really good.
(06:11):
But now just I'm kind of bumping myself back the
other way. So yeah, he really really helped with that.
I mean, he helped with my pitch shapes, the mental
side of things, getting through a full season and working
hitters talking.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I want to ask you one more thing about Pittsburgh
because I saw something that obviously was a joke and
I found it pretty funny. Someone posted on social media
that we need to keep an eye on Paul's skemes.
He's trending in the wrong direction. His ERA this year
is one nine eight. His ERA last year was one
nine seven. His ERA the year before that was one
nine to six, So we better be aware of the
(06:45):
trajectory he's on. This is a kid new to the majors,
and like yourself, what did you think of the stuff
that he had? And I think it seems easy to
say that you expected excellence once he hit the major
league mound.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah for sure. I mean, yeah, Paul's Paul's a unicorn.
He's got everything. He's got the stuff, he's got the mentality,
and he just he really puts it together. You know,
he's he's a special player, special pitcher. And it was
really fun working with him, watching how he works, watching
how he prepares, and getting after with him. He's a
(07:20):
great teammate. You know, he's a great guy in the
locker room. And yeah, you can't really ask for much
more out of the guy. He just he hits every
check checkpoint. It's great.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Were there any conversations with the rest of the pitching
staff on which of the two of you were least
showing of emotion, most stonefaced and stoic.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
No, I don't think so. I think I think I
think a good amount of us were last year. But no, definitely,
definitely none of that. I would say Paul might actually
have more emotion than I do.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I'm not sure you're pretty stoic right now. That's okay,
It's not a bad thing. By the way, we're talking
to Mike Burrows, astro starter here on Sports Talk seven
ninety and it says here in front of me on
my computer screen that you were born in nineteen ninety nine,
which means you were born the year I graduated from
high school, which means I low key kind of hate
(08:12):
you right now. But at the tender age of twenty
six years old, which you are, did you still hear
about you were talking about the astro staff. Did you
hear things about this staff before you arrived in Houston
and has that been you know, a realization now that
you've gotten here about how good they are specifically with pitchers,
for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah. I mean obviously you knew the names that have
been here, you know, over the last decade, and I
mean it's impressive. There's guys that are obviously still playing
today that we're here, and that came over here and
excelled and played really well, and you know, so it
was definitely obviously the first thought when you think of
the Houston Astros as a pitcher. Yeah, it's been a
(08:54):
great experience since I got here, Mike.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
We certainly appreciate the time this afternoon. Look forward to
catching you on the up tomorrow afternoon the finale of
this series against the Seattle Mariners, and hopefully more to come.
Like your last start, when you put it all together,
I'll leave you with that. What did what did you
think about, you know, being able to come out of
that start? You kind of said, desperate times call for
desperate measures. I don't know if you felt like you've
(09:17):
been throwing the ball well but weren't getting good results.
And now that you've thrown the ball well and gotten
good results, you know, have the last few days leading
up to this start tomorrow been a little bit different
for you mentally.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yah, yeah, I mean yeah, I kind of say that lightheartedly.
I mean, it's it's just been you know, some unluckiness
along with some you know, a couple of bad decisions
on my end and on pitch selection. And I think
for me, I was just trying to by moving over
to that side, just create a lot more room for
my arm to work over the plate and you know,
get these guys swing in a little bit more, a
(09:52):
little bit more stuff, you know, get a little more chase.
And yeah, I mean I think it. I think one
start's not going to sell it for me, but you know,
if I start putting together so a few more and
you know, the unluckiness is going to happen. But it's
it's really just been pitch selection and you know, a
couple of a couple of bad located you know, pitches
that kind of put you know, put a blemish into surmounting.
(10:14):
So I'm just kind of locking in on that stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Well, we certainly appreciate the visit with our listeners this afternoon,
look forward to the rest of the homestand like I said,
you start tomorrow and everything that is to come. Mike,
appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I appreciate it. Thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Mike Burrows Astro's starter. He gets the ball tomorrow. Lance
mcculler's junior gets the ball tonight as they have an
opportunity still to split the series with Seattle, and during
our conversation with Mike, as we suggested in the opening
segment of the show, the Astros did in fact slide
in front of the Angels earlier this afternoon, who just
turned in their twenty eighth loss.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Suck it, Anaheim
So our player guest today is Mike Burrows. Mike, you
(00:02):
got Adam and Adam here with you this afternoon. As
you guys are in the midst of a seven game
homestand a stretch of thirteen consecutive games of baseball. You
had the start to open up the first of those
thirteen games last weekend in Cincinnati. But I wanted to
open with a really odd question taking you back a
couple of years. Does the number three seven five zero
(00:22):
mean anything.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
To you, Mike, No, not off the top of my head.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
All right, listen up and see if this jogs your
memory from twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Pirates select draft ID three seven five zero, Burrows, Michael,
a right handed starter from Waterford High School in Waterford, Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
That's the number they gave you when you were in
the draft in twenty eighteen. As as you heard a
Pirate's eleventh round draft pick. I want to take you
back to both that day and the decision that had
to be made because you were all ready to go
to where I'm sure you wanted to go all along
Yukon and ultimately had to make a big decision.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, I thought I was going to get taken day
two by a couple of different teams, and it just
didn't work out. Numbers didn't work out. I went to
dinner with my dad that night, going to going to school.
So next day I woke up, you know, I mean
I probably had two weeks of high school left, so
I was just going in for normal classes and got
(01:20):
a call, and you know, the money started. Money stuff
started being figured out. After day two and I got
a call that I was going to get taken, So
I actually left school that day and then, yeah, I
kind of celebrated getting drafted and stuff working out that day.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Was it a pretty difficult decision again, an eleventh round pick.
I think a lot of people are aware sometimes that,
especially recently as the draft has changed a little bit,
kind of when teams might select a player, they believe
they've got money in their pool to you know, give
a little bit more to maybe convince them that they
can better make a professional career by getting it started
(01:57):
now rather than going to school. Talking with at the school,
the organization, and your family, how'd you come to the
decision that this was was a path you wanted to take.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, I think it was my family more than anything.
I didn't uh, I didn't have an agent through that process,
so it was definitely wild experience experiencing it as a
player and kind of an agent myself, and you know,
talking to teams and kind of trying to use your
words carefully and understand that you have leverage. You know
that you're you're planning on going to school, and I
(02:28):
truly was. I was ready to go to Yukon, but
I had a number of mine and if it, if it,
you know, came came to it came to be, then
uh I was going to go. I thought I was ready.
You know, it was really just about getting getting the
right amount of money, would you know, make me forego
that experience of college and uh maybe possibly you know,
(02:49):
working up the draft board three years later.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Agents are overrated anyway, right, you got it done.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I mean, I don't know, it's tough to say I had.
I definitely had quote unquote advisors people that were in
the game, not agents, but it just kind of guided
me a little bit and just took their advice and
ran with it.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well, we're and we're talking to Mike Burrows astros starter
here on Sports Talk seven ninety. We won't sugarcoat it.
It's rough right now. I think I feel like I've
asked this question an inordinate amount of times, regardless of
who the guest was, over the last several weeks. What
is the mood like in the clubhouse right now? Because
I know that for people like us and the fans
(03:34):
and even maybe some members of the organization, it's different
from a day to day, hour to hour basis than
it is inside that clubhouse when you're actually living it.
So what does Mike Burrows think about the current state
of affairs in the Astros clubhouse?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously after after games end,
it's you know, everybody's a little glum about it. You know,
everybody kind of has to sit on that egg that
you know, we're not exactly living up to our expectations
of you know, how we want to be playing and
how we want to be finishing out games. But you know,
every day of the new day, so we show up,
you know, with the you know, with an attitude that
(04:10):
we're gonna we're gonna steer the ship in the right direction,
you know, because I mean, you don't want that energy
to keep feeding into the next day and working into
that next game. So I'd say every day, you know,
just coming in fresh attitude, fresh day of mind, and
getting after it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You had an interview the other day with the TV
side or at Space City Home Network, and it was
something we noticed when you were pitching, and it was
brought up by Steve Sparks during that interview that for
this most recent start that you made, you're you're on
a little bit different trajectory towards home plate with where
you've lined up and situated yourself on the rubber. Is
that something more from your end of just going through
(04:45):
the things you know that might work best for you,
or was it a conversation with Josh Miller, Christian Vasquez,
et cetera. What went into the decision to go from
that spot on the rubber.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, I think it was a you know, somewhat of
a desperate time calls for a desperate measure, So just
trying something there in the best place to try it
is in the game. You know, that's where you're going
to see the results. That's where you're going to see,
you know, kind of how it's going to play. That's
the best place to see it. It's against live hitters
in the game. So I didn't think he was gonna.
(05:16):
I definitely didn't think it was gonna hurt, and you know,
I worked over there for a long time, so kind
of just moving back to the other side.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
One of the things that I know was brought up
after you were acquired by the Astros in December, by
our listeners, by ourselves quite a few times over those
months before you got to spring training, is what you
might have been able to learn from somebody. Everybody here's
familiar with Brent Strom, who spent so many time years
here with Houston helping cultivate and develop pitchers and work
to their strength, and obviously he was there in Pittsburgh
(05:43):
with you. From your standpoint, what did you get from
working with him?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, I think I think one of the things was
my direction, because at one point when I first met Strom,
I was really stepping out of the box towards left
handed hitter and working a lot of my direction towards
the left ended hitter, and I just kind of over
that year just made a drastic change and really started
stepping towards the right hint hitter. And it was really good.
(06:11):
But now just I'm kind of bumping myself back the
other way. So yeah, he really really helped with that.
I mean, he helped with my pitch shapes, the mental
side of things, getting through a full season and working
hitters talking.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I want to ask you one more thing about Pittsburgh
because I saw something that obviously was a joke and
I found it pretty funny. Someone posted on social media
that we need to keep an eye on Paul's skemes.
He's trending in the wrong direction. His ERA this year
is one nine eight. His ERA last year was one
nine seven. His ERA the year before that was one
nine to six, So we better be aware of the
(06:45):
trajectory he's on. This is a kid new to the majors,
and like yourself, what did you think of the stuff
that he had? And I think it seems easy to
say that you expected excellence once he hit the major
league mound.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah for sure. I mean, yeah, Paul's Paul's a unicorn.
He's got everything. He's got the stuff, he's got the mentality,
and he just he really puts it together. You know,
he's he's a special player, special pitcher. And it was
really fun working with him, watching how he works, watching
how he prepares, and getting after with him. He's a
(07:20):
great teammate. You know, he's a great guy in the
locker room. And yeah, you can't really ask for much
more out of the guy. He just he hits every
check checkpoint. It's great.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Were there any conversations with the rest of the pitching
staff on which of the two of you were least
showing of emotion, most stonefaced and stoic.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
No, I don't think so. I think I think I
think a good amount of us were last year. But no, definitely,
definitely none of that. I would say Paul might actually
have more emotion than I do.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I'm not sure you're pretty stoic right now. That's okay,
It's not a bad thing. By the way, we're talking
to Mike Burrows, astro starter here on Sports Talk seven
ninety and it says here in front of me on
my computer screen that you were born in nineteen ninety nine,
which means you were born the year I graduated from
high school, which means I low key kind of hate
(08:12):
you right now. But at the tender age of twenty
six years old, which you are, did you still hear
about you were talking about the astro staff. Did you
hear things about this staff before you arrived in Houston
and has that been you know, a realization now that
you've gotten here about how good they are specifically with pitchers,
for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah. I mean obviously you knew the names that have
been here, you know, over the last decade, and I
mean it's impressive. There's guys that are obviously still playing
today that we're here, and that came over here and
excelled and played really well, and you know, so it
was definitely obviously the first thought when you think of
the Houston Astros as a pitcher. Yeah, it's been a
(08:54):
great experience since I got here, Mike.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
We certainly appreciate the time this afternoon. Look forward to
catching you on the up tomorrow afternoon the finale of
this series against the Seattle Mariners, and hopefully more to come.
Like your last start, when you put it all together,
I'll leave you with that. What did what did you
think about, you know, being able to come out of
that start? You kind of said, desperate times call for
desperate measures. I don't know if you felt like you've
(09:17):
been throwing the ball well but weren't getting good results.
And now that you've thrown the ball well and gotten
good results, you know, have the last few days leading
up to this start tomorrow been a little bit different
for you mentally.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yah, yeah, I mean yeah, I kind of say that lightheartedly.
I mean, it's it's just been you know, some unluckiness
along with some you know, a couple of bad decisions
on my end and on pitch selection. And I think
for me, I was just trying to by moving over
to that side, just create a lot more room for
my arm to work over the plate and you know,
get these guys swing in a little bit more, a
(09:52):
little bit more stuff, you know, get a little more chase.
And yeah, I mean I think it. I think one
start's not going to sell it for me, but you know,
if I start putting together so a few more and
you know, the unluckiness is going to happen. But it's
it's really just been pitch selection and you know, a
couple of a couple of bad located you know, pitches
that kind of put you know, put a blemish into surmounting.
(10:14):
So I'm just kind of locking in on that stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Well, we certainly appreciate the visit with our listeners this afternoon,
look forward to the rest of the homestand like I said,
you start tomorrow and everything that is to come. Mike,
appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I appreciate it. Thanks guys.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Mike Burrows Astro's starter. He gets the ball tomorrow. Lance
mcculler's junior gets the ball tonight as they have an
opportunity still to split the series with Seattle, and during
our conversation with Mike, as we suggested in the opening
segment of the show, the Astros did in fact slide
in front of the Angels earlier this afternoon, who just
turned in their twenty eighth loss.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Suck it, Anaheim
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.