The Cincinnati Reds are making the call to their top prospect — and the No. 11 prospect in MLB's rankings — pitcher Chase Burns, who will take the bump and start vs. the New York Yankees on Tuesday.
Burns was the No. 2 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft by the Reds, and the first pitcher taken in that draft. He isn't the first first-round pick to make his debut in The Show, though, as Nick Kurtz (Oakland) and Jac Caglianone (Kansas City) have both gotten the call this season.
Source: Chase Burns to start Tuesday vs Yankees. More to come at @TheAthletic
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) June 22, 2025
Chase Burns scouting report: lots of heat, and a filthy slider
Blink, and you'll miss it. Burns' fastball can top out at 102 MPH, but his best pitch might be his slider, which usually sits in the high-80s and has some wacky movement on it. It will be fascinating to watch Burns pitch against New York's lineup — especially Aaron Judge — when he takes the hill on Tuesday. Burns also uses his curveball often, but his slider (ranked a "70" by MLB, meaning it's a "plus-plus" pitch) is the showstopper.
Burns blew through Cincy's minor league system. He pitched three games at high-A, eight games at Double-A, and two games at Triple-A before getting the call that he'll be throwing against the most famous team in the sport. His 1.77 ERA, 0.77 WHIP and .167 opponent batting average in his 13 career minor league games show that it's not crazy to be making the call this early.
Will Chase Burns be the Reds future? ace
They sure hope so. His stuff is high-level starter material, and his production in the minors — although brief — did nothing to dampen the excitement of Reds fans and the front office.
Last year, the Reds called up Rhett Lowder — their other top pitching prospect — and he was brilliant in six starts before suffering an injury in Spring Training. He and Burns could form one of the nastiest young one-two punches at the top of the Reds rotation for years to come.
Burns isn't getting much time to get acclimated, though — he's being thrown to the wolves (Yankees) in his first MLB action.