Chapter 1: What recent changes have impacted Mike Burrows' career?
How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. I want to, first of all, congratulate you on all your success. We have not had you on a podcast in almost three years. I feel like maybe when we did the first ever live mentoring of Rich Hill, maybe some of it took root. I don't know. It's so long ago. I don't know.
I was. Feels like forever ago.
A lot has happened since then, but that was, looking it up, that was January 2023. But what's cool is that, as I said to you before, we first met at the Futures game, which is where you helped me
contributed to the book, A Damn Near Perfect Game, with just a great... I think one of the best... I'm not even just saying this because you're here, but of all those little snippets of people saying how they fell in love with baseball, yours was one of the best. One of the best. So, I'm building you up. Because it was Boston? No, I don't care about Boston. Are you kidding me?
I don't care about Boston. No. No, I just feel like it was genuine. It was... I got the book right here. Pull it up. This is terrible show prep by me, but it was – oh, here it is right here. Boom. Here it is. Mike Burrow's top pitching prospect. Can I read it real quick? Go for it, yeah. Okay.
i'm sure that you could recite it by the way i did i think i i said in passing did you get any street cred off of being in a book you said a little bit right a little bit yeah yeah a little bit i did definitely from the family they loved it all right Well, just a reminder, there's no better holiday gift. Mike Burrows, top pitching prospect.
So it's good because we didn't identify an organization because we knew ultimately you were going to be switching. All right. He said, my dad was just so into baseball, had such a passion for it. which was what allowed me to have those experiences going to games and seeing the big league players and all that atmosphere that comes with it.
I just remember seeing Jonathan Papelbon run out of the bullpen at Fenway Park and hearing that song. I'm shipping up to Boston, playing with everyone, chanting. You get chills from that kind of stuff. It all just resonated for me, and I knew that's what I wanted to do. This was where I wanted to be one day.
Those players, Pedro Martinez, Josh Beckett, were the guys I wanted to be, the guys I looked up to. I loved watching them. I wanted to be like them. There are plenty of those type of guys playing now.
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Chapter 2: How has Mike Burrows evolved as a pitcher in the big leagues?
Kids just have to take the time to experience it like I did. Believe me, it's worth it. Let's go. Right?
Those are my guys. Those are my idols, man. I tried to pitch like Josh Beckett as a kid.
Did you? The same sort of motion and everything?
Yeah, that was who I emulated. That was the guy that... Yeah, if I could throw, like, one person, that's what I was trying to throw, like. But I have, like, Pedro, too. I mean, they go both hand in hand. Like, I just, yeah, I tried to pitch like them. I loved Pedro's attitude.
So I kind of, like, that's where I saw the first bit of fire, like, on a baseball field was Pedro, Papelbon, those kinds of guys. So that was my childhood, which was – it was a good childhood.
And honestly, I'm not even joking – Hearing that, that's what we should remember because now you're sitting there. Saw you. You were at Fenway Park in a Major League Baseball uniform. When was that? September? I lose track.
September? August, September.
August, September. But you lived that life. You lived that dream. And somebody is going to say now, some kid is going to say the same thing about you. Yeah.
I hope so, yeah.
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Chapter 3: What insights does Mike share about his experiences at Fenway Park?
Yeah, I don't know. You eventually get to a point, especially when you start signing more, you want it to be shorter, and you just kind of come up with something different. So now it's just initials.
Could you do cursive right now?
I could. I think I could. Yeah, I mean, I would have to be pulling... Pulling out, uh, whatever I can remember from fourth grade, but.
The Q's and the Z's. Yeah. Uh, but Tori just, you know, it, you know, I just love that topic because, you know, we just had on Brett Phillips and he was good. Cause he had said, if baseball wants to grow the game by 50%, does everybody sign every day for 10 minutes? It's true because you never forget, like if everybody who got your autograph will follow you forever.
And Torrey Hunter said he was always told, make sure that they can read your signing too so they know, like, that's the guy. It's not just some random guy. So anyway, I didn't mean to go down that road, but, like, it's part of the equation. So another, besides being in the book, another thing that I didn't even tell you this, but we want to honor you with, you are going to be our pitcher –
pick to click for 2026. You're following you. I mean, I don't want to put a lot of pressure on you, but there's a lot of deep dive, a lot of research, a lot of, you know, the journey, the lessons learned, what's led you to this point, all of this. and we'll get into your new team with Houston, but all of this. And so you don't have to say, yes, well, absolutely, that's who I'm going to be.
But you must feel like you're at a point now where you're like, all right, here we go, right? You feel that way? Yeah.
Yeah, I think after getting through your first year in the big leagues, you start to feel out what your identity is as a pitcher and who you're going to be in this game. It's still an evolving thing, and it'll change slightly, but you find a pace, you find a rhythm, and you try to hold on to that. Because when you get out of it, that's when the bad ones happen.
Yeah.
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Chapter 4: What lessons did Mike learn from his first year in the majors?
If I can make it look like a fastball, that's, that's kind of the name of the game. If I can, it's fooling them, you know, it's making them think that it's something that it's not. And they are good pitches. I, I, I love my off speed, but I also love my fastball too.
I just think the addition of a second fastball is what I needed to, to make that a more of a weapon, you know, the velocity anyway, knowing that it might not be straight. It's good. It might run a little bit, you know, so.
It's weird because I just saw this the other day. It's almost every, this is, you know, we talk about trends. Almost everybody has two fastballs. Like I know that's, but almost everybody has it. You have eight pitches, but you have two fastballs, you know? So, but that's a, that's a big difference for you, right?
Yeah, I think it's a big difference for a lot of guys now. I think having two fastballs is, I mean, for starters anyway, is huge. To get you through more innings and just have that second offering that still has velocity to it as well. Yeah, I think it's huge. I was actually talking to... one of my teammates last year about it. And he just was like, it was Nick Gonzalez.
Actually, he was like, you should, you should throw us, you should throw a two scheme. Cause I think there, it was right after my bad one in Minnesota and Joe Ryan was pitching and he was, he obviously throws two really good fastballs and he was like, you should. And I was like, all right. And then just decided to start throwing it right after all star break and broke it out in game. And, um,
Talked to our catcher and was like, let's do it. We threw it in there and it was pretty good. We just stuck with it and kept working on it and refining it, trying to make it better, locating it.
Yeah, it was good. That's good. Speaking of the evolution of you, we haven't even talked. You mentioned the word traded. You were traded. Another cliche question. Where were you when you found out you were traded? Sometimes I find this very interesting because you might be in a movie. or you get a number that you don't know, recognize. Tell me the story of when you were traded.
I was actually waiting to get my hair cut. I was in the barbershop, and I saw a text come up in a fantasy football group chat, Burroughs to Houston, question mark, and I was obviously a little thrown off, and then my agent called minutes later and told me that he had a couple of sources that told him that that was what was happening. So I was like, all right, well,
you know, is official and it was, you know, pending medical record pending medical review and everything. So I, uh, yeah, I found out at the barbershop and I was just.
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Chapter 5: What was Mike's reaction to being traded to the Houston Astros?
Yeah, it felt like a long three hours.
Well, and also you just inadvertently led me to a question I'm probably going to ask a lot of people.
do you when you get a haircut do you actually keep your phone like you look at your phone like this is that's a tough one man like you you would obviously because you don't want it you have the thing over you right so it's a little awkward to look at the phone like to have so that that might be an exception i don't know if you have typically done that looked at your phone
I typically don't look at my phone, but I did have it that moment because I was like, I might have to get up, you know, and just be like, oh, hold on a minute. I got to take this. So I did have it. But if it was just, you know, those single buzzes, I knew it was text messages. If it was a call, I would have been able to tell.
So, yeah. So I would imagine besides your fantasy football chat, you said your phone was probably going like nutty, right? I mean, it was beeping all over the place, buzzing, right?
Yeah, it was.
I'm sorry.
A lot of people texted me asking. No, it's just part of it. This is my first time being traded, but I know it's part of it. It was just people trying to confirm if it was true, and I'm like, yeah, I haven't been officially told, but yeah, I think so. That's what it seems like.
Did you know – and then you find out it's Houston. Did you know anybody there? That's another question, you know, that people usually ask.
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Chapter 6: How does Mike plan to prepare for the upcoming season?
In the meantime, it is exciting. I appreciate you coming on here because I know there's a lot going on. And I hope that our payment of designated you as our 2026 picture pick to click is a massive amount of street cred. So I hope that makes you feel even better. It does, yeah. I'm glad. It's big. It is big. So we also starting a campaign called
You know how everybody, when they show up in spring training, you're in the best shape of your life? Everyone's in the best shape of their life, right? Right? Whether they are or they aren't. The best shape of your life. So we're doing a best shape of our life season. I will send you a shirt. Well, I probably have been negligent in sending you a baseballs and boring shirt.
But I will make sure that in, what is it? Is it Jupiter? Is that where it is? West Palm? Yeah, West Palm. Yeah, West Palm. Wherever you are, you will have this. But the best shape of your life season, you will – I don't think that you have to worry. It seems like you're in pretty good shape. You can confirm that you're going to be in the best shape of your life, yes. Oh, yeah. Okay.
You're 26, I would hope. Yeah. But if you had to identify one thing that you said from right now until spring training, when you stand in the middle of that clubhouse with your Houston Astros colored Best Shape of My Life season shirt, what is the thing that you are going to zero in on of like, this is the thing I'm going to actually – be the best shape of my life, part of your existence.
Maybe it's mental. Maybe it's physical. I'll give you a couple examples. Joe Kelly was on yesterday. He said he wants to bench 225 pounds. I don't expect you to do that because pitchers, as he points out, pitchers don't bench. You don't have to do that. Take that off the table. I'm going to get an ab. That's my thing. I'm going to get an ab.
But what is the thing that you say, I am focusing on this. And again, it could be mental. It could be physical. It could be whatever it is. Best shape of your life. And I feel like when I get dropped in there after working on it for the next couple of months, this is what I'm going to be. What is it? Anything? Anything?
Um, I think the last, last two off seasons, the focus had been putting on weight and making sure I'm above 200 when I come in. Cause I lose it real fast. I would say that's, uh, that's been priority number one, the last few years. Um, yeah, I think, I think if anything has to, it would be on the throwing side. Um,
It would just be making sure that the couple of things that I have talked about, I come in and we're nailing those. One thing I fell victim to last year was manipulating the slider, and it would come out slower.
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Chapter 7: What are Mike's goals for his performance with the Astros?
So throwing my hard slider, it has to do with stuff on the mound. I wouldn't say it's more so physical, I think.
I don't know. I like the weight thing.
I like the weight thing.
Give me your ideal weight that you want to land at. We'll write it down.
205 is where I want to be coming into spring.
205. Boom. Let it be said, let it be done. I could also say, like, your beard game is elite, by the way. Thanks. I don't have the history of the best beard of your life, but it must feel pretty good right now. It's pretty elite.
It's in a good spot. I like the length wrap.
It's a good spot. I like it. Well, sincerely, congratulations. And as I said, you were with us from the early days. That was when we did that.
two months into the podcast and it's just been a joy following you i know that you've had a lot of like like everybody it's not a linear thing you know you have tommy john you have minor leagues you have all this but holy mackerel look at where you are so congratulations with everything thank you i appreciate it yeah all right all right thanks and uh again 205 mark it down yeah 205
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