The fireballin’ righty will toe the big league rubber for the first time tonight.
The Cincinnati Reds held the #2 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, and that left them in an enviable position in the eyes of most analysts.
There was no clear top prospect in the class, though Oregon State 2B Travis Bazzana and his elite hit tool were ranked atop most all lists. If Cleveland, who held the #1 overall pick, opted to take him, there would still be an elite bat left for Cincinnati to select right afterwards.
Charlie Condon had just mashed a million homers in the potent SEC for Georgia. Jac Caglianone, a fellow SEC product from Florida, owned perhaps more raw power than any prospect we’d seen in drafts for years. JJ Wetherholt out of West Virginia even snuck into rumors of being the #1 selection, which would leave Bazzana for the Reds in a steal.
While the jockeying order for which hitters would go where shook out, there was at least one thing clear in that draft – Chase Burns, the fireballer out of Wake Forest via Tennessee – was the highest rated arm in the draft. Most thought he’d go somewhere in the back half of the Top 10, but almost all seemed convinced his elite mix of triple-digit heat and devastating slider would make him the first pitcher off the board.
The Reds made that moot when they took Burns 2nd overall, right after Cleveland swung for Bazzana. It was a move that wasn’t necessarily panned by the analysts who’d assumed bats would dominate the first few picks so much as an audible wonder whether they all should have had a better grasp of just how valuable an elite pitching prospect was to a club like Cincinnati.
The Reds saw an arm they could not pass up, and passed up some serious hitting prospects to make sure they got their guy.
Burns, like Rhett Lowder before him in 2023, took the rest of 2024 ‘off’ from in-game ball, and ramped up for a 2025 professional debut. To date, that 2025 has done nothing to dent the Reds decision-making, as Burns has simply breezed his way through A-ball, AA, AAA, and will now make his big league debut today – Tuesday, June 24th – at home against the New York Yankees.
It’s hard to say anything other than ‘he’s ready for the chance.’ In 66.0 IP (13 G) spread across High-A Dayton, AA Chattanoog, and AAA Louisville, he owns a ridiculous 89/13 K/BB and has allowed just 13 ER – good for a 1.77 ERA and 0.77 WHIP. That’s not to suggest he’s going to waltz right onto the GABP mound and do to the New York Yankees and Aaron Judge what he’s done to minor leaguers, but those numbers paired with the elite stuff in his right arm means the time has come to begin finding out.
That begins this evening at 7:10 PM ET on FanDuel Sports Network.