Wild Things Ink RHP Aaron Burns to Extension for 2018
WASHINGTON, Pa. - For the seventh time this offseason, the Wild Things have announced the re-signing of a pitcher from the 2017 staff to the 2018 club, as today the team announced the extension of right-handed pitcher Aaron Burns.
Burns played his first season of professional baseball with the Wild Things in 2017, and pitched his way to a 4.33 earned run average, bouncing between a long-relief role and starting for Washington. The 24-year old was 4-3 with a save in 19 appearances (10 starts), and accumulated 70.2 innings of work, a total good for the fourth-highest innings on the staff. He struck out 56 batters.
The Jarrell, Texas, native came to Washington off the heels of a solid career at McMurry University (2013), Temple College (2014) and the University of Texas-San Antonio (2015-2016), where he posted a career 3.37 ERA in 331.2 collegiate innings with 196 strikeouts to 85 walks. His lifetime collegiate record was 27-16.
"Burns is one of our labeled X-Factors in 2018. He has so much potential and upside; we challenged him to take a significant step forward with his career," said general manager Steven Zavacky. "We embrace his goal of reaching the big leagues and look forward to see how he builds his consistency with our catching duo. Burns is a very self-critical, quiet competitor. His progression as a professional will have a meaningful impact on the quality depth in our rotation.”
Burns joins fellow pitching staff members Chase Cunningham, Frank Trimarco, Jake Eaton, Davis Adkins, Trevor Bradley and Zach Strecker in re-signing with the team. Catcher Kyle Pollock has also re-signed with the Wild Things. They won't be the only ones, as more will re-sign in the coming weeks, but it's a core Burns said he is excite to rejoin the team.
Personally, Burns expects to take on a bigger role, and perhaps for his role to change from being a two-trick pony in the bullpen and rotation, to being solely a starter.
"My personal expectations are to take on a bigger role and have a bigger impact on the team being a starter," said Burns. "As a team, I would really like to see us win our division and win [more than] 60 games."
Writer's Note: The second position player to resign will be announced Monday, November 20, while several more will be announced in the coming weeks.
