Reds Broadcaster Jeff Brantley Reveals Bold Plan for Rhett Lowder and Chase Burns

One of the biggest storyline in Reds Spring Training is the battle for the fifth starter spot. While it certainly feels like Chase Burns is the favorite to win the job, Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley proposed an interesting idea on the Reds Hot Stove on Wednesday night.

"Is Rhett Lowder ready to pitch up here," Brantley said. "If he's ready to pitch up here, then that makes your decision that much more difficult. You know for a fact that you could put Chase Burns in your bullpen and he would make your bullpen an absolute rockstar bullpen...You need somebody to be able to piggyback to get to the backend of the bullpen so you're not taxing your bullpen early."

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"My opinion is if Lowder is ready to go, why would you waste his innings at Triple-A? You're only going to get 100+ innings out of him. You're trying to put your focus on August and September. You can use Chase Burns in the bullpen and extend him, stretch him out in the bullpen...Lowder is not going to be a guy you put in the bullpen. My question is, if he's really ready to pitch, are you really going to waste those innings in Triple-A?"

Brantley certainly has a point. If Lowder only has a certain amount of innings, it wouldn't make much sense to waste those in Triple-A. However, I am a bit concerned that if the Reds move Burns to the bullpen, they'll never move him back to being a starter, similar to how they handled Aroldis Chapman once he became a dominant reliever.

Brantley and Thrall discussed my exact concern.

"It's not that he's going to be a reliever in the future," Brantley said. "This is the message that Francona is presenting to his ball club. It is time to win. So what is the best way to win? Is it to have roster management and kind of feather these things around or is it taking your best 12 pitchers north to Cincinnati and saying alright, this is what we got, let's go get them, boys."

Burns Strikes Out Five on Thursday

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns (26) throws a pitch in the eighth inning of the MLB National League Wild Card Game 2 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. The Reds were eliminated from the postseason with an 8-4 loss to the reining World Series Champions La Dodgers. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Burns made his second start of the spring on Thursday afternon, facing the San Diego Padres. In 2 1/3 innings, he surrendered one run on two hits. He walked two batters and struck out five.

Burns threw 26 of his 48 pitches for strikes and did not give up a single hard-hit ball in his 2 1/3 innings. Through two Spring Training starts, Burns has an ERA of 2.08.

You can listen to Wednesday's night episode of the Reds Hot Stove here.

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