Reds’ Chase Burns, last year’s No. 2 pick, will debut Tuesday vs. Yankees

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Chase Burns, a top pitching prospect and last year’s second pick in the MLB draft, will make his big-league debut for the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night against the New York Yankees at Great American Ball Park, Reds general manager Brad Meador said Saturday night.

Burns, 22, began the year at High-A Dayton and was promoted after three starts. He made eight starts in Double A before getting promoted to Triple A for two starts. And now, he will make his big-league debut against Aaron Judge and the Yankees.

“You never know for sure when someone’s ready,” Meador said. “But I do know we feel really good about the makeup.”

Overall, Burns is 7-3 with a 1.77 ERA in 13 minor-league starts. Perhaps more impressively, Burns has 89 strikeouts over 66 innings with just 13 walks. Four of those walks came in his first start in Triple A.

Burns made his second start for the Louisville Bats on Wednesday, beating the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate. Against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Burns allowed a run on three hits over seven innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. Other than his first game with Louisville, Burns hasn’t walked more than two in any other game.

In his 13 minor-league starts, he struck out more than a batter an inning in 10 of them, including a 10-strikeout performance against the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas on May 25. That was five days after he struck out seven Trash Pandas in five innings. He gave up a run in each start against Rocket City and allowed a total of five hits in those two games with just one walk.

Burns had a 3.09 ERA in three starts in High A, was 6-1 with a 1.50 ERA in eight Double-A starts and 1-0 with a 2.19 ERA in two Triple-A starts.

“You push guys to fail and then you give them a chance to figure it out and then you move them to the next level,” Meador said. “That’s what the whole minor-league system is based on and set up for and you couldn’t have asked for a better first year. He’s not only done well, but seems to be doing better at every level.”

After starting his career at the University of Tennessee, Burns transferred to Wake Forest, where he went 10-1 with a 2.70 ERA. Burns credited Wake Forest’s pitching lab for much of his development. Burns has a fastball that’s reached 100 mph, as well as a slider, curveball and an emerging changeup.

The Reds put left-hander Wade Miley on the injured list with a left flexor strain on Friday, the day before he was scheduled to make his third start in place of Hunter Greene, who is on the IL. Miley isn’t expected back soon. Greene has resumed throwing after getting a second opinion on his right groin strain and getting an epidural injection to relieve pain in his lower back. He is expected to return sometime around the All-Star break.

That left the Reds with a hole in their rotation and a pitcher in Triple A who could fill it in Burns.

The team’s other option, right-hander Chase Petty, who was called up Saturday, was saddled with the loss after pitching in the 11th inning of Saturday’s 6-5 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Petty was Cincinnati’s third-ranked pitching prospect after Burns and Rhett Lowder.

Reds manager Terry Francona started left-handed reliever Brent Suter, the first of eight Reds pitchers used on the day, none of whom threw more than a pair of innings.

Among those to pitch on a sweltering Saturday in St. Louis was right-hander Nick Martinez, the loser of Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Twins. Martinez pitched on what would normally be his bullpen day. He was originally scheduled to start Tuesday against the Yankees, but he will now be pushed back in place of Burns.

Burns was the second straight right-handed starting pitcher the Reds took with their first pick in the 2023 and 2024 drafts. Lowder was the seventh pick in the 2023 draft and Burns was the second pick in 2024.

The Reds’ selection of Burns was seen as somewhat of a surprise, as most expected Cincinnati to take infielder/outfielder Charlie Condon out of Georgia.

As with Lowder, the Reds didn’t have Burns pitch after the July draft. While Burns wanted to pitch earlier, the Reds assured him it wouldn’t impede his path to the big leagues or make it any longer than it had to be. When Lowder was called up to start at the end of August, Burns saw the proof. Lowder went 2-2 with a 1.17 ERA in six starts to finish out the season.

The hole left by Miley’s injury will be filled by Burns, who is considered one of the top pitching prospects in the minor leagues. Like right-hander Lowder, the Reds’ first-round pick out of Wake Forest in 2023, the Reds didn’t have Burns pitch after drafting him in August.

“When they told me they were shutting me down, it was really hard,” Burns said this spring. “You get that opportunity to put on a Reds jersey and stuff like that, you just want to get out there. But they put a lot of money into you and time and effort, so they want to take their time. I get it.”

But the Reds showed him that they would advance a pitcher quickly, as Lowder made his big-league debut 417 days after he was drafted. Burns will have topped even that, making his debut 345 days after he was drafted.

“He made a great impression on everyone in camp,” Meador said. “Everyone on the major-league side — players, staff — everyone is like, this kid’s the real deal.”

Burns will get a chance to prove it Tuesday and do it against the most storied franchise in the sport.

(Photo: Sam Greene / The Enquirer via Imagn Images)

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