Good morning, and happy Corbin Burnes Day to everyone, especially those of you on the Corbin Burnes Cy Young Hype Train.

Let's get this day started with a little thread on Corbin Burnes:

1/9

According to Baseball Savant, Corbin Burnes currently ranks in the 99th percentile or better among pitchers in 7 categories:

xwOBA, xBA, xOBP, K%, Whiff%, xERA, and FB spin

In an 8th category, BB%, Burnes is in the 97th percentile because of a high number of Ps with no BBs 2/9

So Burnes is essentially best in the league in 8 categories on Baseball Savant.

That's tied for the most categories in the top percentile with James Karinchak of the Indians, who is a reliever. 3/9

Almost all of those categories led are in Expected statistics. So not only is he dominating with the actual numbers he's putting up in opponent batting average, OBP, etc. but the expected numbers back it up.

That means what we're seeing isn't a fluke. His dominance is legit 4/9

Burnes threw first pitch strikes just 52.9% of the time last season.

This year, he's throwing first pitch strikes 67.1% of the time.

That's good for 10th best in baseball while teammate Brandon Woodruff is 8th with 67.6%. 5/9

Meanwhile, whenever Burnes does allow contact, he's keeping it on the ground. The average launch angle off him is 2.1 degrees.

That's 2nd best in baseball behind Logan Webb of the Giants. 6/9

Let's look at the strike zone. In 2021, Burnes is in the zone 48.1% of the time, an improvement of 6.9% over 2020.

But hitters are swinging at pitches in the zone just 62.9% of the time, down from 65.6% last year.

So he's in the zone more often and hitters are swinging less 7/9

Meanwhile, Burnes is also getting hitters to chase outside the zone at a 36.7% clip, an increase of 6.1% over 2020, and hitters are making contact just 37.9% of the time, a decrease from 46.2% last year.

So hitters are chasing more and making contact less often. 8/9

Pair the higher Chase rate with the lower swing rate in the strike zone and you have quite the recipe for success with Corbin Burnes.

And it's working out beautifully. Happy Corbin Burnes Day! #FutureCyYoungWinner 9/9