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StaTuesday: Debut save for Brewers' Burnes an MLB rarity
The Milwaukee Brewers moved Corbin Burnes from their Triple-A rotation to the bullpen so he could make an impact with the big club in 2018.
Not only has Burnes pitched well in his first two major-league appearances, tossing four scoreless innings, but the 23-year-old right-hander made a little history as well.
On July 10, Burnes was summoned from the bullpen in the eighth inning with Milwaukee holding a 6-4 lead over Miami. After Burnes retired the Marlins 1-2-3 in his first inning, Christian Yelich hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth and Burnes was sent back out finish the game, which he did with another perfect frame.
It was the 2016 fourth-round pick's first save at any level, but it coming in his major-league debut was something special -- and quite rare.
Since the save became an official statistic in 1969, Burnes is the 30th pitcher to record a save in his major-league debut, and first in over five years.
The way managers have used bullpens have, of course, changed in the past 50 years. Of those 30 saves, 12 had pitchers go at least three innings (an automatic save no matter the score, such as Jeff Bronkey in a 13-2 win over the Brewers in 1993, Brad Thompson in a 15-5 win over the Padres in 2005 and Dale Thayer in a 15-2 rout against the Marlins in 2009.
Three of the 30 occurred in extra innings, including a 17-inning game (Todd Wellemeyer), 13 innings (Chuck Cary) and 11 innings (George Throop).
The save has gained increasing importance over the years and not something a manager is likely to entrust a rookie with in his first MLB game. There are occasions when a save was garnered by a pitcher expected to be a late-inning pitcher -- Kyuji Fujikawa and Mark Wohlers, for example -- but for the most part the save in a debut was mostly a fluke of circumstance.
SAVES IN MLB DEBUT (SINCE 1969)
| PITCHER | TEAM | DATE | IP | H | R | BB | K | CAREER SV |
| Steve Barber | MIN | 4/9/1970 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Charlie Hough | LAD | 8/12/1970 | .1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 61 |
| Ed Farmer | CLE | 6/9/1971 | .1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 75 |
| Rick Waits | TEX | 9/17/1973 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| George Throop | KC | 9/7/1975 | .2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| John Urrea | STL | 4/10/1977 | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Mike Willis | TOR | 4/13/1977 | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Bob Stanley | BOS | 4/16/1977 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 132 |
| Renie Martin | KC | 5/9/1979 | 1.1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Dave LaPoint | MIL | 9/10/1980 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Salome Barojas | CHW | 4/11/1982 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 35 |
| Don Carman | PHI | 10/1/1983 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Jeff Bettendorf | OAK | 4/8/1984 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Gene Walter | SD | 8/9/1985 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Lance McCullers | SD | 8/12/1985 | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 39 |
| Chuck Cary | DET | 8/22/1985 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Mickey Weston | BAL | 6/18/1989 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mark Wohlers | ATL | 8/17/1991 | .1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 119 |
| Jeff Bronkey | TEX | 5/2/1993 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Derrin Ebert | ATL | 4/6/1999 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Byung-Hyun Kim | ARI | 5/29/1999 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 86 |
| Rafael Soriano | SEA | 5/10/2002 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 207 |
| Todd Wellemeyer | CHC | 5/15/2003 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Michael Nakamura | MIN | 6/7/2003 | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Frank Gracesqui | FLA | 4/29/2004 | .1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Brad Thompson | STL | 5/8/2005 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Emiliano Fruto | SEA | 5/14/2006 | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Dale Thayer | TB | 5/22/2009 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Kyuji Fujikawa | CHC | 4/1/2013 | .1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Corbin Burnes | MIL | 7/10/2018 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Only three of the above pitchers had more than 75 saves in their career, and the leader, Rafael Soriano with 207, didn't post 10+ saves in a season until 2009 -- seven years after his debut.
A handful of pitchers did not have a save after their debut. Jeff Bettendorf appeared in just two more major-league games and Frank Gracesqui six. Emiliano Fruto had 22 more relief appearances as a rookie and didn't pitch in the majors again while Michael Nakamura had 30 more games in two years, but finished just eight. Mickey Weston pitched four more years after his debut, until 1993, but with only 22 more appearances (with three starts). Brad Thompson would appear in 201 games over his major-league career, including 32 starts, with 64 games finished but would never record another save.
Burnes might have something in common with the only other Brewers pitcher to record a save in his debut.
Dave LaPoint entered a 3-1 game in the seventh inning at Minnesota on Sept. 10, 1980. He walked the first batter he faced, but then induced a double play and allowed a double in the eighth and a walk in the ninth in closing the door.
LaPoint admitted he was nervous and offered this postgame quote which surely went over well in Milwaukee: "My hand is still shaking so much that my beer is all fog," he said, while, yes, enjoying a cold beverage in the clubhouse.
The left-hander pitched in four more games for the Brewers in 1980, with three starts, and was traded in to St. Louis in a blockbuster deal in the offseason. In his 12 years in the majors, LaPoint pitched in 294 games, mostly as a starter (227 starts). He'd finish 16 games in relief -- but never recorded another save. Burnes could well be on the same path.
Dave Heller is the author of Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow (a Larry Ritter Book Award nominee), Facing Ted Williams - Players From the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
