Milwaukee Brewers: 2 Players Who Are Turning Things Around, 1 Who Isn't

Brewers player who is turning things around: SP Corbin Burnes

Over the last few years, one thing that Brewers fans could always count on was team rotation ace Corbin Burnes dominating when it was his turn to start. So it's been a little strange in 2023 to see him struggle a bit.

Granted, it's not as though his numbers were particularly bad to start the season. Through his first 13 starts, Burnes was sitting on a 3.36 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and .199 batting average against. But, then came an uncharacteristic rough patch over his next three starts.

In his final three starts of June, Burnes gave up 14 earned runs over 16.2 innings (7.56 ERA) while allowing batters to hit a whopping .319 with a .919 OPS. He struck out just three batters each in two of those starts and the Brewers lost two out of those three games. He also lasted less than six innings in two of the three outings and saw his season ERA jump to 4.10.

Things have looked much better in July, however. In two starts this month, Burnes has lasted seven and six innings, given up just two earned runs in each game, and struck out a combined 13 batters. He also gave up just four combined hits and saw his season ERA drop back below 4.00 on the season (3.94).

While his season hasn't fully gone as plan, Burnes is still clearly regarded as one of the top pitchers in the league, which was proven when he was selected as an All-Star replacement yesterday. Perhaps that, plus his strong couple of recent outings lead to a big second half of the season for the former NL Cy Young winner.