Last spring Chase Burns was lighting up radar guns at Wake Forest, as the big right-hander went 10-1 for the Demon Deacons while setting a new school record with 191 strikeouts. That propelled Burns to the top of the 2024 MLB Draft, where he was selected second overall by the Cincinnati Reds.
Burns made his MLB debut on Tuesday night against the New York Yankees, and made some history in the process. Facing the talented Yankees lineup, the flame-throwing righty struck out the first five batters he faced. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no rookie starter has accomplished that feat in the Expansion Era, dating back to 1961.
Burns’ first pitch in the majors was a blistering 98-mph fastball on the inside corner to New York leadoff hitter Trent Grisham. Burns then hit 100 on the radar gun for the second strike, before punching Grisham out with his plus-plus slider, 93 mph low and inside:
After striking out Ben Rice for the second out, Burns then faced reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge. After working the count to 1-2, Burns got Judge to chase a 91-mph slider outside of the zone for a swinging third strike:
In that first inning alone, Burns hit 99.7 mph twice, and 100.1 mph twice.
The rookie returned to the bump for the second inning and the strikeouts kept coming. He froze cleanup hitter Cody Bellinger with a changeup for his fourth consecutive strikeout, and then got Paul Goldschmidt on a slider up in the zone for his fifth:
The Yankees finally got to Burns in the fourth inning, as Rice led off the top of the frame with a solo shot to right, and a triple from Anthony Volpe brought home two more runs to stake the visitors to a 3-0 lead. But Burns came back out for the fifth and after giving up a leadoff single, he set the top of the Yankees’ lineup down in order once more, including another strikeout of Grisham.
Burns was lifted after five innings of work, having thrown 81 pitches and recording eight strikeouts in his debut. He did not factor into the decision as Cincinnati came back and won the game in extra innings, scoring twice in the bottom of the 11th for a 5-4 lead.
For Burns the night, and the win, were “everything” he could have asked for in his debut.
“Everything I could ask for, to walk it off like that, to be in the dugout and see that. There’s nothing better than that,” Burns said after the game.
He even received some high praise from the reigning MVP.
“He’s running up there at 100 miles an hour. Good feel for all his breaking pitches,” said Judge after the game. “It was impressive seeing him go out there and doing his thing. Usually you see young guys like that, kind of amped up, kind of throwing it all over the place. But he did a good job attacking the zone and kind of running us there the first time through the lineup.”
Not a bad debut at all.
