Chase Burns gives up two runs in three innings

The 28-year-old Williamson winds up 5-5 with a 5.30 ERA over 12 outings in his return from Tommy John. He’ll probably have a chance to stick around and complete for a spot next year, but middle relief might be a better home for him than the rotation.

Williamson, who had been piggybacking off Chase Burns, excelled tonight in his second major league start since April. throwing just 68 pitches to get 18 outs. He seemed iffy a month ago to stick on Cincinnati’s 40-man this winter, but with his velocity climbing some as he completes his first year back from Tommy John, he’s probably locked up a spot now.

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 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.

Williamson entered with a one-run lead in the fourth, but that didn’t last long, mostly because he walked five (one intentionally) and hit a batter. He’s expected to continue pitching behind Burns for now.

Williamson struck out five and walked two while throwing 67 percent of his pitches for strikes in his return from the injured list. The left-hander sat 90.3 mph on his cutter, which is up over one mph from his average, and posted an 11 percent swinging strike rate. That cutter was the only pitch that reliably missed bats in this outing, but another complicating factor for his fantasy value is that the Reds have said the plan for Williamson is to use him as a piggyback to Chase Burns, who is having his innings limited. That could give Williamson a decent shot at wins, but it’s unclear how many innings he’ll pitch.

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.