Pregame notes: Is Sean Burke coming around?

Tuesday night's starting pitcher Sean Burke fulfilled his Opening Day assignment with six scoreless innings, followed it up with three unambiguous stinkers (10 2/3 IP, 14 ER, 5 HR), and now looks more clearly on an upward trend over the last three outings after another six scoreless last Thursday (16 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 15 K).

Burke is the rare pitcher on the White Sox staff where establishing his fastball more might slip in as the recommended course of action, and when he talks about challenging opposing hitters with his four-seamer, it doesn't sound like someone planning Pickett's Charge.

"Coming into this year, I had a lot of success with my breaking stuff last year," Burke said in Sacramento. "And even late in Triple-A, I had a lot of success with my breaking stuff and I kind of forgot that the whole reason why in my whole life I've gotten to the point where I'm at is because I have a good fastball. Obviously not overdoing it. Fastballs are still the worst performing pitch in baseball, so not overdoing it to the point where I'm just throwing 50-60 percent fastball. But just trusting it in situations where I need to go in-zone with it."

When Burke is sitting 94 mph and ideally up, locating it at the top of the zone, suddenly less precision is needed for his breaking pitches to draw the sorts of swings he wants. A note that pitching coach Ethan Katz provided is that in 2025 baseball, every pitcher--certainly every starter--needs to at least sprinkle in a second fastball shape to keep hitters off of it. So Burke's sinker doesn't need to become a prominent figure in every outing for the impact of its presence to be felt.

"We ran some studies, and having two different fastballs really supports one another," Katz said. "You know we don't encourage too many fastballs, but that was a way that we thought there were more avenues to kind of keep that going."

⚙️⚙️⚙️

Andrew Benintendi is out of the lineup for second-straight game after tweaking his calf. That, combined with a day off for Luis Robert Jr., gives the White Sox lineup a distinct shape.

⚙️⚙️⚙️

Penn Murfee was outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte. He was removed from the 40-man roster but remains in the organization. The White Sox 40-man roster is now at 39, setting them up well to try to acquire a fourth Rule 5 pick.

Bobby Dalbec cleared waivers after being designated for assignment on Sunday. He elected free agency. He has unshackled himself from the yoke of labor, unplugged from the capitalist machine. He can now walk the Earth, like Caine in Kung Fu: walk from place to place, meet people, get in adventures.

First pitch: White Sox at Royals

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM

Lineups: