Minor League Baseball

Top Pitching Prospects of Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox Highlighted Ahead of Spring Breakout Games

Chase Burns and Noah Schultz - and their sliders - are just a handful of the top prospects and tools that will be on display during the Spring Breakout games, which begin on Thursday.
Brady Farkas|
Wake Forest pitcher Chase Burns (29) starts against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the ACC Baseball Tournament at Truist Field in 2024.
Wake Forest pitcher Chase Burns (29) starts against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the ACC Baseball Tournament at Truist Field in 2024. | Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

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Chicago White SoxCincinnati Reds

The Spring Breakout games begin on Thursday night with the Boston Red Sox top prospects battling the Tampa Bay Rays top prospects.

The Spring Breakout games began last season as a way to showcase the top talent in each organization. It's kind of a precursor to the MLB Futures Game, which takes place during All-Star week.

Several top 100 prospects are participating this spring training, including Noah Schultz of the Chicago White Sox and Chase Burns of the Cincinnati Reds.

Both players were identified and highlighted recently by MLB Pipeline, which said that each of them feature a 70-grade slider, making them the best sliders we'll see across baseball during these games. There are three other prospects who also have a 70-grade.

Burns is currently ranked as the No. 26 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline. The same group predicts he'll make his major league debut this season despite not having thrown one professional pitch yet in his career.

A first-round pick in 2024 out of Wake Forest, Burns was the No. 2 pick in the draft. He was the ACC Pitcher of the Year, a First-Team All-American and a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, which is the baseball equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.

The No. 16 prospect in the game, Schultz made 24 starts last year, tossing 88.1 innings across Single-A and Double-A. He struck out 115 batters and pitched to a dynamite 2.24 ERA. He went 0-4, but the season was about development and not about his overall record.

He is also predicted to make the big leagues this year.

The White Sox will play the Rockies on Sunday, while the Reds will play the Brewers.

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MAKING MOVES: The Seattle Mariners have made several roster moves this week, including sending top prospect Michael Arroyo down to minor league spring training. CLICK HERE:

FORMER MAJOR TRADE PIECE SENT DOWN: Noelvi Marte, acquired by the Cincinnati Reds at the trade deadline in 2022, will begin the year at Triple-A. CLICK HERE:

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is the senior writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and the host of “The Payoff Pitch’’ podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. Follow Brady on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.

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