Chase

Burns

The 23-year-old hurler allowed just three hits and one walk in the ballgame. Unfortunately for Burns and his fantasy managers, the Reds were unable to scratch out a single run of support for him and he had to settle for a no-decision. He piled up 18 swings and misses on 94 pitches on the day — 12 of those on his slider — while registering a strong CSW of 33 percent. He’ll carry an impressive 2.20 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and a 46/13 K/BB ratio (41 innings) into Friday’s battle against the Astros.

Burns generated 22 whiffs on 55 swings while topping out at 100.5 mph tonight. He’s allowed two runs or fewer in five of his six starts this season and is now 3-1 with a 2.65 ERA overall even though the Reds have struggled to support him. He’s due to face the Pirates on Sunday.

Burns carried a shutout into the sixth inning before surrendering a two-run homer to Jonathan Aranda. The hard-throwing 23-year-old righty has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his five starts at the outset of the season, while completing five frames every single time. It’s fair to say he’s exceeded expectations after a rough spring training where it looked at times like he wasn’t going to make the season-opening rotation. He’ll carry a strong 2.57 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 30/11 K/BB ratio over 28 innings into a tasty home matchup against the Rockies on Tuesday.

Burns was pumping 97.6 mph gas with the fastball and got a 36 percent whiff rate with his slider. It’s a little disappointing he only struck out four, but he generated plenty of weak contact and even his two hits allowed got little air time. Burns carries a 2.42 ERA into his next start on the road in Tampa Bay and should be trusted in most leagues.

After pitching a scoreless first inning, Burns ran into trouble in the second. After striking out Jorge Soler to start the inning, the hard-throwing righty walked Yoán Moncada on four pitches, and allowed back-to-back singles to Josh Lowe and Logan O’Hoppe to load the bases with two outs. Burns would then walk in the first run of the game on a five-pitch at-bat to Adam Frazier, but avoided further trouble by forcing Zach Neto to ground out and end the threat. Burns would retire the first two batters he faced to start the third inning, but allowed another run to score after a double by Soler was followed by an RBI single by Moncada. The Angels continued to pile on Burns in the fourth, which included a two-run homer by Neto, as Burns struggled to get batters out all night. Burns allowed 10 baserunners in his first two outings combined, but saw 11 batters reach base in this one. He should have a good chance to bounce back in his next start on Thursday against a Giants offense that has gotten off to a slow start.

Burns was outstanding in his debut against the Pirates on Monday, and was just as good — if not better — in the follow up. He threw three pitches over 100 mph and was routinely over 99 with his heater, and he generated an outstanding 21 swings and misses. The only mistake was a pitch left in the zone to Joc Pederson, and unfortunately that prevented Burns from picking up a win. He’s an absolute must-start Friday for a scheduled matchup against the Angels.

Remember a few weeks ago when it looked like Burns might open up in the minors? His 78 pitches tonight produced 15 whiffs. He averaged 98.3 mph with his fastball and maintained his velocity throughout. The Reds likely will employ quick hooks here from time to time, but Burns should be a strong fantasy starter, even if he lags behind in the wins department. He’ll face the Rangers on Sunday.

It was extremely encouraging to see Burns completely dialed in after a mostly forgettable spring that left fanatsy managers with more questions than answers. He generated 13 swinging strikes and topped out at 99.8 mph on his four-seam fastball, limiting Milwaukee’s formidable lineup to just four hits, including a solo homer from Jake Bauers. More importantly, he didn’t hand out a free pass in this one and got hit pitch count up to 68 (53 strikes). The 23-year-old top pitching prospect will kick off the season with an extremely favorable home matchup against the division-rival Pirates on Monday night.

Burns, who was named to Cincinnati’s season-opening rotation earlier this week, got into trouble right away in this one. He handed out a leadoff walk to Zach Neto before losing a nine-pitch battle to Mike Trout, who walloped a run-scoring single to center field. He somehow managed to keep the inning from snowballing out of control following a run-scoring triple from Josh Lowe later in the frame by coaxing a pair of easy outs. He managed to settle in afterwords and work a clean second inning, throwing 48 pitches (29 strikes) in the abbreviated outing. The dynamic top pitching prospect is likely to have some workload limitations in the early stages of the year as he teams with Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson to fill a pair of spots in Cincinnati’s rotation. He offers enough strikeout upside, even in shorter bursts, to be mixed-league relevant at the outset of the season.

Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson have also made Cincinnati’s rotation. There was speculation that Burns would open the season in the minors after experiencing some physical issues last week but Francona has put those concerns to bed. The 23-year-old top prospect is likely to have some workload limitations at the outset of the year as the Reds exercise caution with his ramp-up process, but he’ll remain in the big-league rotation. The plan is for the Reds to use a combination of Burns, Williamson and Lowder to fill two rotation spots. It’s an encouraging development for Burns, who has been going off the board as a top 25-30 range fantasy starter in drafts based on his stratospheric strikeout upside.