Chase Burns labors in win over Phillies

It’s possible that Burns suffered the injury during Friday’s start against the Cubs and that’s the reason that his workload was so limited. It’s also possible that the Reds were looking for any reason to shut him down early and curtail his overall workload for the season. Either way, fantasy managers in redraft leagues can cut bait and find an alternative option for the final week of the season.

Burns didn’t stick around long enough to factor into the decision as the Reds continue to carefully manage his workload down the home stretch. The hard-throwing phenom was permitted to throw 67 pitches over three frames in his penultimate outing. He struck out four and also issued a pair of walks. He allowed four hits, including a solo homer to veteran outfielder Ian Happ. He’ll wrap up the season with a road tilt against Atlanta on Thursday. Burns offers enough strikeout upside to be worth starting in deeper mixed leagues, but the workload limitations cap his realistic upside and make it difficult to justify rolling with him in shallow fantasy leagues.

Burns was wild today, walking three and throwing just 28 of his 56 pitches for strikes. Of course, because of the Reds’ plan to restrict his workload, he was going to be done after three innings regardless. Brandon Williamson again piggybacked off him and picked up a win after allowing one run in four innings. The Reds are expected to use the same arrangement again Friday against the Cubs.

Burns allowed just one batter to reach, that on a walk, in the 44-pitch outing. He’s expected to remain on a similar pitch count for the rest of the season. He’s currently at 148 1/3 innings with three outings to go, so it looks like he’ll fall just short of qualifying for the ERA title. He’s sixth in the NL and 10th in the majors in ERA at the moment.

According to Joe Banneman from Fox19 in Cincinnati, Reds manager Terry Francona said that the plan is for Williamson to work as a piggyback with Chase Burns for the remainder of the season. The team wants to limit Burns’ innings for the remainder of the season so “after that start, the rest of his starts will have Brandon Williamson as a piggyback in the same game.” It seems like we might be getting one more game with Burns as a full-time starter, and then fantasy managers may need to find other options than Burns if you need wins or quality starts.

Burns will not pitch this week with his next start being moved to next Monday in Los Angeles. Francona declined to elaborate on the exact innings limit. This latest development was alluded to by Reds analyst Jeff Brantley during Burns’ latest start against the Cubs on Sunday night. The hard-throwing 23-year-old, who has delivered top-10 fantasy value among starters this season, has already thrown 145 1/3 innings, which is nearly 40 more than he posted during last year’s professional debut. The move is designed to allow Burns to make his final handful of starts without a shutdown prior to the end of the season. It’s a tough development for fantasy managers in the middle of the playoffs, but he’s still worth hanging onto and starting outside of extremely shallow mixed leagues.

Burns got his 15th victory in what sounds like it will be his final traditional start of the year. This one put him at 145 1/3 innings for the season, an increase of 36 from his first professional season last year. Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley said on Sunday Night Baseball that the plan is for Burns to pitch about three innings at a time in his remaining outings, which would leave him ineligible for wins unless he pitches in relief. Burns, the first Reds starter to win 15 games since Luis Castillo in 2019, is due to face the Brewers next time out.

This might have been the weakest lineup Burns had faced all season, but it got the better of him anyway. He allowed two doubles in the first that would have been homers in the majority of ballparks and gave up a three-run homer to Rafael Devers in the second. The loss drops Burns to 14-3 with a 2.77 ERA. He’s slated to make his next start Sunday against the Cubs, unless maybe the Reds want to push him back with him now being 30 innings over his total from his first pro season last year.

Burns needed 104 pitches to record his 15 outs, allowing six hits and two walks along the way. He’s up to 136 innings this year after totaling 109 1/3 last season between the minors and majors. Burns has had some lower-velocity outings lately but continues to pitch effectively and pile up the strikeouts. He draws a favorable matchup on the road against the Giants next time out.

It was another dominant outing for Burns, who was in need of a bounce-back after allowing five earned runs in his last outing against the Nationals. Burns needed to be on top of his game to match Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara, who allowed just one earned run in seven innings of work. Burns limited the Marlins to just three hits on the night, all of which were singles, and never allowed a runner to get into scoring position. Burns has allowed one earned run or less in four of his last five starts. He’s next scheduled to take the mound Tuesday at home against the Cardinals.