Reds' Chase Burns Turns Heads With Impressive Hitless Spring Debut

There are very few young pitchers in Major League Baseball with as much buzz surrounding them this spring than Cincinnati Reds righty Chase Burns.

Burns burst on the scene last season with flashes of dominance. He features an electric fastball and one of the best sliders in the game. When he's at his best, he's nearly untouchable.

Coming into this year, Burns has seemingly improved his game. He's reportedly improved his changeup and curveball as he looks to feature more than two pitches on a consistent basis. Last year, Burns was fastball and slider for a majority of his pitches.

On Saturday, the young righty toed the rubber for the first time this spring as the Reds opened their spring training season with a game against the Cleveland Guardians.

Chase Burns Walks 3, Strikes Out 2 in Spring Debut

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns (26) throws a bullpen session at the Cincinnati Reds player development complex in Goodyear, Ariz., on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Burns was given a scripted two innings of work, and he held Cleveland scoreless during his time on the mound. Not only did he hold them scoreless, but the Guardians were hitless across the two innings against Burns.

The Reds starter struck out two Guardians hitters, with one of those being a dominant strikeout of superstar Jose Ramirez.

He flashed his changeup on multiple occasions, generating a few swings and misses on the pitch. He's likely to use it exclusively against lefties, which he did on Saturday. Burns didn't throw his curveball during the two innings of work.

There's room to be concerned with the three walks he issued in the game, but it's important to note that Burns doesn't have command issues, despite the national media painting him to be a pitcher who struggles to command the ball. Across a short sample size in the big leagues, Burns held an 8.5 percent walk rate.

In college, Burns walked 2.7 hitters per nine innings, mixing as a starter and a reliever. During his short time in the minor leagues, he walked 1.8 hitters per nine innings. To put that into perspective, Clayton Kershaw has walked 2.2 hitters per nine innings for his career. Andrew Abbott walks 3.0 hitters per nine innings.

Either way, Burns' three walks across two hitless innings are nothing to be worried about. He doesn't have command issues. In fact, he commands an electric arsenal better than most pitchers do. As he gets acclimated back to game situations, his command should be back to where it was last year.

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