Corbin Burnes

Burnes was everything the Orioles could have hoped for when they traded for him, as he took the ball 32 times during the regular season and pitched to a 2.92 ERA, seventh lowest among qualified starters. The right-hander added eight innings of one-run ball in his lone postseason start before Baltimore was bounced by Kansas City. Now a free agent, Burnes is about to be paid like an ace long term, and deservedly so. There may be some slight yellow flags, including a 23.1 K% last season, down significantly from just a couple years ago, coinciding with a drop in whiff rate on his curveball. Burnes is now on the wrong side of 30, but throwing hard, limiting walks and racking up innings are among the many things he still does well on a baseball field. The underlying numbers over the past couple years point to him being more of a low-to-mid 3.00s ERA pitcher, but if the strikeouts ramp back up it would help to stave off regression. Read Past Outlooks