Sean Burke Rejoins Chicago White Sox Following Demotion To Minors

CHICAGO –– Sean Burke is getting another chance in the big leagues after a brief stint in the minors.

The White Sox recalled Burke from Triple-A Charlotte to start Wednesday's 6:40 p.m. CT game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Rate Field. Right-handed reliever Dan Altavilla has been designated for assignment.

White Sox manager Will Venable said Burke is not on a pitch count, and that they'll take it inning by inning.

"Excited to have Sean back," Venable said. "Length-wise, we’ll see how it goes. He’s fully built up. I know they were kind of monitoring his innings there in Triple-A a little bit, but he’s still in a good spot, still can pitch deep into the game. Excited to have him back."

Burke will face a Rays lineup that defeated the White Sox 5-4 on Tuesday, thanks to home runs by Josh Lowe, Richie Palacios and Tristan Gray, as well as an RBI single from Chandler Simpson. All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero leads Tampa Bay with 41 home runs and 103 RBIs, and Yandy Diaz has been a consistent force near the top of the order with an .816 OPS.

Burke was the White Sox Opening Day starter this year, and had several bright moments with seven quality starts in his first 17 outings. But he lasted just 3.1 and 3.2 innings in his last two starts on Aug. 9 and Aug. 16, respectively, raising his ERA to 4.28 across 117.2 innings.

The White Sox optioned to Triple-A on Aug. 18 in an effort to make adjustments that would help him be more effective against left-handed hitters and pitch deeper into games.

"It’s all about strikes," Venable said. "We’ve seen it kind of pop up early in his starts often and specifically to left-handed hitters. He went to work on it. Mixed results early, the first couple of starts there. Some of the underlying stuff was a lot better than it looked on paper. And a really good one his last one. He’s in a good spot and excited to throw him back out there."

As opposed to working through issues at the Major League level, the White Sox felt Triple-A was a better testing ground for Burke, as well as Jonathan Cannon, who was optioned on Aug. 8 after spending the entire season in the majors.

"When you go down to the minor leagues, it gives you and opportunity to try some things that you maybe talk about up here that in the moment it's harder to accomplish," White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz said on Aug. 24. "Because you're trying to get through an inning and you're going to stick to what you feel is best, [as opposed to] trying to open up some other avenues. Particularly, those two guys were seeing a lot of left-handed lineups. How do we want to attack those left-handed hitters?"

"Sean, trying to trust his changeup and using his slider a little bit more, because he became a little bit fastball-curveball heavy with the lefties. It's trying to accomplish that. When you're here, you've got a runner on first and second, you're having success one way. But to be able to pitch deeper and navigate through a lineup and get through innings the right way, you're going to have to use all four pitches, the life of a starter. So trying to get them to maximize their full arsenals."

Here's a look at Burke's final pitching lines following his demotion to Triple-A.

Date	IP	H	ER	BB	K	Pitches
8/22	5	8	4	3	4	89
8/28	1.2	4	4	2	4	62
9/3	6	6	3	0	7	82

Plans for 2026 are still in the works, but Venable still believes Burke can be a major league starter.

"Yeah, I do. We’re a long ways away from having a conversation about next year, but certainly we think very highly of him," Venable said. "We selected him as our Opening Day starter, and he’s pitched really well at times. And confident that he’s going to get back to the best version of himself and the best version of him is absolutely a starter in the major leagues."

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