Reds top prospect Burns racks up double digits in strikeouts for first time in career

Making the jump to Double-A is difficult for any prospect and that can particularly apply to pitchers. But Chase Burns has made it look easy.

The latest outing for MLB’s No. 11 prospect backed up that premise as Burns racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts over five innings in Chattanooga's 7-2 win over Rocket City on Sunday at AT&T Field.

The 6-foot-3 right-hander struck out the side in the first inning with his 65-grade fastball, including two of the Angels' top 10 prospects -- Nelson Rada (LAA No. 6) and Denzer Guzman (LAA No. 9).

After allowing a run on a pair of hits in the second inning, Burns retired 10 of the next 11 batters. The No. 2 pick in last year's Draft allowed one more hit the rest of the way, didn't issue any walks and punctuated a number of his K's with a fist pump.

Burns has dominated since his promotion a little over a month ago. He sports a 4-1 record, a 1.86 ERA and has issued only three free passes -- an eye-popping 45-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In his past five starts, the 22-year-old has struck out at least seven batters.

Burns' success and composure is something the Reds know a lot about, particularly the 2024 campaign at Wake Forest in which he fanned a program-record 191 batters. Last May 24, he struck out 15 batters across six scoreless innings against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament.

Fast-forward a year, and Burns has been more than validating the Draft-record $9.25 million bonus he got from Cincinnati, which ranks ninth in MLB with a starting pitcher ERA of 3.61.

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Led by a fastball that creeps into the triple digits, Burns seems to be on an express track to the big leagues, and the only question right now is just how soon he can make it happen.