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Cincinnati Reds Call Up No. 1 Prospect Chase Burns For Tuesday Start Against Yankees

Matt TallariniJun 22, 20254 MIN READ
Cincinnati Reds Call Up No. 1 Prospect Chase Burns For Tuesday Start Against Yankees

Cincinnati Reds right-handed pitcher Chase Burns, the organization’s No. 1 prospect on MLBPipeline.com, was called up June 22 and will start Tuesday night, June 24, against the New York Yankees at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, at 7:10 p.m. EDT, according to C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic.

Burns was promoted to Triple-A Louisville on Sunday, June 8, prior to his call-up to the majors.

Burns Climbed Three Levels in First Pro Season With 89 Strikeouts

Burns made two starts with Triple-A Louisville and went 1-0, posting a 2.19 ERA. He flamed 12.1 innings, allowing seven hits, three earned runs, no home runs, four walks, and recorded 14 strikeouts.

The 22-year-old from Naples, Italy is the No. 11 prospect on MLBPipeline.com and was the second overall pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft after his junior season at Wake Forest University. He signed for $9.25 million, breaking the MLB signing bonus record previously held by Paul Skenes.

Burns was assigned to the Arizona Complex League on August 5, 2024, after signing on July 18.

This season, Burns made his professional debut with High-A Dayton, going 0-2 with a 3.09 ERA in three starts. He threw 11.2 innings, allowed five hits, four earned runs, two home runs, five walks, and had a 0.857 WHIP before being called up to Double-A Chattanooga on April 22.

With Double-A Chattanooga, Burns went 6-1 with a 1.29 ERA in eight starts, chucking one complete game and one shutout. He fired 42 innings, allowed 26 hits, six earned runs, three home runs, four walks, struck out 55 batters, and posted a 0.714 WHIP.

Between High-A and Double-A this season, Burns holds a 6-3 record with a 1.68 ERA in 11 starts. Over 53.2 innings, he has allowed 31 hits, 10 earned runs, five home runs, nine walks, and struck out 75 batters.

Across all three levels in his first professional season—including Triple-A Louisville—Burns owns a 7-3 record with a 1.77 ERA in 13 starts. He’s logged one complete game and one shutout, throwing 66 innings, allowing 38 hits, 13 earned runs, five home runs, 13 walks, and recording 89 strikeouts with a 0.773 WHIP.

Prior to beginning his pro career, Burns was named Freshman Pitcher of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in 2022 with the University of Tennessee, where he went 8-2 with a 2.91 ERA and 103 strikeouts over 80.1 innings.

In three collegiate seasons with Tennessee from 2022–23 before transferring to Wake Forest in 2024, Burns went 23-6 with a 3.21 ERA over 51 appearances and 38 starts. He recorded two saves and struck out 408 batters over 252.1 innings, allowing 90 earned runs, 37 home runs, and finishing with a 1.046 WHIP.

According to Burns’s scouting grades on MLBPipeline.com, his pitches are graded as follows: Fastball 65, Curveball 60, Slider 70, Changeup 55, Control 50, Overall 60.

Scouting Reports Highlight Velocity and Wipeout Slider

Baseball Savant reports, “His fastball sits in the upper 90s and touches 102 mph, but it did get hit a fair amount at Wake and he allowed 10 homers off the pitch in 2024, according to Synergy, because it tends to straighten out with a lack of deception. His upper-80s slider is one of the best secondary pitches in any system, one that elicited a 64 percent miss rate last year. His slightly slower, low-80s curve gives him a second plus breaking pitch. The athletic right-hander doesn’t use his upper-80s changeup as much, but it will flash plus fade when he’s really clicking. His biggest area of improvement post-transfer was with his overall command, but he’s always been a solid strike-thrower.”

Reds manager Terry Francona will have to evaluate how Burns fits into the rotation leading up to the All-Star Break. The starting depth chart includes Brady Singer, Nick Martinez, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, and Chase Petty. Hunter Greene and Wade Miley are currently on the 15-day injured list, while Rhett Lowder and Carson Spiers remain on the 60-day injured list.

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