TEMPE, Ariz. – Former Sun Devil Closer Ryan Burr became the 110th Sun Devil to play Major League Baseball on Thursday. The Chicago White Sox called him up from their Triple A affiliate, the Charlotte Knights, on Wednesday and Burr made his first MLB appearance a day later against the the Detroit Tigers.
Burr pitched 1.1 innings of perfect relief in the loss to the Tigers, striking out two and tossing 12 strikes on just 20 pitches in an exceptional debut. He allowed no hits and no walks in the effort.
The 110 players Arizona State has sent to the Major Leagues are the most of any school since 1959, the year baseball's modern era started at ASU, and trails only USC, which leads all schools with 112. ASU's major leaguers all debuted since 1963, while USC (1927) has a much longer history of sending players to the MLB. USC's list also includes five freshman-only players.
Over four minor league seasons, Burr appeared in 124 games, registering an 11-7 record with a 2.02 ERA. He struck out 208 batters in 173.2 innings pitched. With Burr's call-up, the Sun Devils have now had at least one major league player on their varsity roster each year from 1961 through 2015, which is the longest current streak in the nation. Thirty-five ASU baseball players have made their MLB debuts since 2002, with Burr becoming the first member of the 2015 team to make a big-league roster. The 1975 team holds the school record for the most Major Leaguer's on a roster, with 14 members of that team making the MLB.
Burr, a 2010 graduate of Highlands Ranch High School in Colorado, came to Arizona State following a stellar high school career in which he was selected as a Rawlings First Team All-American. Despite being drafted in the 33rd round of the 2012 MLB Draft, Burr opted to attend Arizona State where he would embark on a record-setting three-year career.
His final season in Maroon & Gold would be one to remember, as Burr tied the school's single-season saves record with 14. He went 8-2, setting career-best in strikeouts (74) and appearances (33). Burr was the only player in the nation in 2015 to notch double-digit saves and six-plus wins. For his efforts, he was selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team. Competing on the USA Collegiate National Team in 2014 & 2015, Burr joined Dustin Pedroia as the only Sun Devils in school history to represent the country in consecutive seasons.
After a tremendous career at Arizona State, the Arizona Diamondbacks used their 5th round selection (136th overall) to select Burr. He made his way through the D-Backs minor league system, eventually landing on the Advanced A-Ball affiliate, the Visalia Rawhide in 2017. After a successful 2017 season at Class A Visalia and Class A Kane County (recording a 2-2 record with a 1.89 ERA in 39 appearances) Burr was traded to the White Sox midway through the season. He immediately found his rhythm as a member of the White Sox Class-A affiliate, the Winston-Salem Dash, not allowing a run in the six games he pitched in to finish the season.
Showing he belonged at the Class A level, Burr received an invite to Spring Training Camp with the Chicago White Sox. Burr started the 2018 season at the Double-A level with the Birmingham Barons. He quickly showed he was ready for a higher level of competition, recording a 4-2 record with a 2.72 ERA in 30 appearances. On July 27th, Burr was called up to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights, where he would prove he belonged by dominating the International League. In seven appearances, he pitched 8.1 innings while allowing just one run and striking out eight. Triple-A opponents were hitting just .154 off Burr at the time of his call-up.
The Sun Devils 108th Major Leaguer, Trevor Williams, recently discussed his path to the majors and his time with the Sun Devils.
Burr is the second former Sun Devil to make his debut in the MLB this season. Adam McCreery (2012-13), who spent two seasons with the program, made his debut on August 9th for the Atlanta Braves.
Sun Devil Baseball has a long and storied tradition of producing MLB players across the past six-plus decades, including an NCAA-best 414 Sun Devils who have been drafted, a combined 24 World Series appearances and 57 All-Star Games, nine MVP awards, four Rookie of the Year's, 16 Gold Gloves, 17 Silver Sluggers and two World Series MVP honors.
Burr will join the list of Sun Devils who have played in the MLB includes Floyd Bannister, Barry Bonds, Bob Horner, Reggie Jackson, Paul Lo Duca, Oddibe McDowell, Dustin Pedroia and Don Wakamatsu. Pete Lovrich was ASU's first Major Leaguer in 1963.
#WhiteSox announce three roster moves: pic.twitter.com/bZQOMplfcV
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 22, 2018
Burr pitched 1.1 innings of perfect relief in the loss to the Tigers, striking out two and tossing 12 strikes on just 20 pitches in an exceptional debut. He allowed no hits and no walks in the effort.
The 110 players Arizona State has sent to the Major Leagues are the most of any school since 1959, the year baseball's modern era started at ASU, and trails only USC, which leads all schools with 112. ASU's major leaguers all debuted since 1963, while USC (1927) has a much longer history of sending players to the MLB. USC's list also includes five freshman-only players.
Over four minor league seasons, Burr appeared in 124 games, registering an 11-7 record with a 2.02 ERA. He struck out 208 batters in 173.2 innings pitched. With Burr's call-up, the Sun Devils have now had at least one major league player on their varsity roster each year from 1961 through 2015, which is the longest current streak in the nation. Thirty-five ASU baseball players have made their MLB debuts since 2002, with Burr becoming the first member of the 2015 team to make a big-league roster. The 1975 team holds the school record for the most Major Leaguer's on a roster, with 14 members of that team making the MLB.
Burr, a 2010 graduate of Highlands Ranch High School in Colorado, came to Arizona State following a stellar high school career in which he was selected as a Rawlings First Team All-American. Despite being drafted in the 33rd round of the 2012 MLB Draft, Burr opted to attend Arizona State where he would embark on a record-setting three-year career.
The 24-year old right-hander left Arizona State as arguably the most accomplished closer in Sun Devil history. The three-time All-Pac-12 honoree completed his career with a school-record 38 saves, breaking Doug Nurnberg's career saves record which was set in 1965-67 and was the longest-standing individual career record in school history. He appeared in 94 games throughout his time in Tempe, the fifth-most in school history. Making at least 30 appearances in three straight seasons, Burr was just the third Sun Devil to accomplish the feat. Burr accomplished plenty off the diamond as well as on it, earning a spot on the 2015 Capital One Academic All-American Second Team. Burr capped his tremendous career with a 15-7 holding a 2.79 ERA and recording 190 strikeouts in 135.1 innings.Headin' to The Show. ??
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) August 22, 2018
Congrats to #SunDevil4Life @RyanBurrASU on being called up to the @whitesox! #MLBU pic.twitter.com/lJmtZtNOht
His final season in Maroon & Gold would be one to remember, as Burr tied the school's single-season saves record with 14. He went 8-2, setting career-best in strikeouts (74) and appearances (33). Burr was the only player in the nation in 2015 to notch double-digit saves and six-plus wins. For his efforts, he was selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team. Competing on the USA Collegiate National Team in 2014 & 2015, Burr joined Dustin Pedroia as the only Sun Devils in school history to represent the country in consecutive seasons.
After a tremendous career at Arizona State, the Arizona Diamondbacks used their 5th round selection (136th overall) to select Burr. He made his way through the D-Backs minor league system, eventually landing on the Advanced A-Ball affiliate, the Visalia Rawhide in 2017. After a successful 2017 season at Class A Visalia and Class A Kane County (recording a 2-2 record with a 1.89 ERA in 39 appearances) Burr was traded to the White Sox midway through the season. He immediately found his rhythm as a member of the White Sox Class-A affiliate, the Winston-Salem Dash, not allowing a run in the six games he pitched in to finish the season.
Showing he belonged at the Class A level, Burr received an invite to Spring Training Camp with the Chicago White Sox. Burr started the 2018 season at the Double-A level with the Birmingham Barons. He quickly showed he was ready for a higher level of competition, recording a 4-2 record with a 2.72 ERA in 30 appearances. On July 27th, Burr was called up to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights, where he would prove he belonged by dominating the International League. In seven appearances, he pitched 8.1 innings while allowing just one run and striking out eight. Triple-A opponents were hitting just .154 off Burr at the time of his call-up.
The Sun Devils 108th Major Leaguer, Trevor Williams, recently discussed his path to the majors and his time with the Sun Devils.
The 27-year-old right-hander has been brilliant down the stretch this season, boasting a 0.75 ERA over his past six starts.Not many professional pitchers lay claim to a collegiate degree.#SunDevil4Life @MeLlamoTrevor is one of the few. See what Trevor Williams is up to off the diamond these days.
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) August 16, 2018
?? - https://t.co/PH2McqoFL0
Burr is the second former Sun Devil to make his debut in the MLB this season. Adam McCreery (2012-13), who spent two seasons with the program, made his debut on August 9th for the Atlanta Braves.
Sun Devil Baseball has a long and storied tradition of producing MLB players across the past six-plus decades, including an NCAA-best 414 Sun Devils who have been drafted, a combined 24 World Series appearances and 57 All-Star Games, nine MVP awards, four Rookie of the Year's, 16 Gold Gloves, 17 Silver Sluggers and two World Series MVP honors.
Burr will join the list of Sun Devils who have played in the MLB includes Floyd Bannister, Barry Bonds, Bob Horner, Reggie Jackson, Paul Lo Duca, Oddibe McDowell, Dustin Pedroia and Don Wakamatsu. Pete Lovrich was ASU's first Major Leaguer in 1963.