“Baseball giveth and baseball taketh away.” Or so says Astros’ Hall of Fame announcer Milo Hamilton about Chris Burke‘s recent demotion to the Round Rock Express after being anointed the Astros’ starting centerfielder on opening day. Playing out of position – Burke is primed to fill Craig Biggio’s spot at second once he gets his 3,000 hits – he struggled enough early on for the Astros to give superprospect Hunter Pence his first shot at the Show. And God knows Pence looks nice out there patrolling the spacious and hill-laden centerfield at the Juice Box and Houston can certainly use his bat. With the return of Rick White to the Astros’ bullpen after some time spent on the disabled list, someone had to go, and Burke was the odd man out. This is also to get him some much-needed at-bats and to stay sharp in the field. Burke will be back in an Astros’ uni’ before you know it, so let’s enjoy his time spent in Round Rock while we can.
This article appears in May 11 • 2007.