Mike Burrows' Latest Meltdown Raises Questions About Astros Rotation

Mike Burrows is having a roller-coaster 2026 season with the Houston Astros. The former 11th-round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft has seen some very high highs but also some unfortunate low lows. Every good start seems to be followed by either a mediocre one or something so horrid that it makes every Astros fan want to turn their televisions off. It’s truly been a strange campaign.

Flash back to mid-June, and it appeared that Burrows had figured it out. After starting the season in poor fashion, manager Joe Espada opted to give him some reprieve by pitching him out of the bullpen. It worked. Burrows shut down the Cleveland Guardians in a 9-3 Astros win on June 19, paving the way for him to return to the starting rotation.

At first, it appeared the reset worked. He threw six innings of one-run ball against the Toronto Blue Jays on June 24, delivering his team a 3-1 victory. He then followed that up with a less impressive five-inning outing in which he allowed four runs on six hits. Still, things appeared to be turning a corner.

And then July 6 happened.

In an eventual 12-11 loss to the Washington Nationals, Burrows allowed 10 runs — only seven were earned — on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings of work. Nothing was working. Two Nationals hitters launched home runs. Every pitch seemed to get tattooed. It was the type of performance that made people lose trust in the Burrows experiment.

The only question that remains is how long the Astros can keep it up.

Mike Burrows' Inconsistency Is Becoming a Problem

Houston Astros starting pitcher Mike Burrows. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The acquisition of Burrows this past offseason was one of the bright spots of the Astros' winter. He had a good season with the Pittsburgh Pirates last year, and it was hoped he could keep it up in 2026 with Houston.

With a 5.99 ERA on the campaign, his rotation spot is now in question.

"It was a tough day," Burrows said about his outing against the Nationals (via MLB.com). "I just feel like I let the team down. They gave me a good lead and I spoiled it. Some of the hits felt like they were in bad spots where our guys weren’t, and then there were a couple of pitches I just missed by a little bit and I got beat. Just a tough one."

Every pitcher in baseball is capable of laying a stinker on any given night, but it feels like Burrows is especially prone to those types of games. The bad has vastly outweighed the good so far in 2026, and that's just flat-out unacceptable from an Astros perspective.

"We just got to create some opportunities for him to go to areas where we can get some quick outs," Astros manager Joe Espada said after the game (via MLB.com). "He showed signs of that, but we need more consistency out of his pitches."

If that consistency doesn't show up soon, then Burrows will be out of the starting rotation very soon.

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