Cincinnati Reds Promote 2024 First-Round Draft Pick to Triple-A in Lightning Speed

The Cincinnati Reds selected Burns with the No. 2 pick in the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft. He began the season at High-A Dayton, then was promoted to Double-A Chattanooga, where he has been a star, worthy of his No. 11 overall ranking by MLB Pipeline.

At Chattanooga, Burns is 6-1 with a 1.29 ERA in eight starts. He’s thrown one complete game.

In 42 innings, he’s given up just seven runs (six earned), struck out 55 and issued a meager four walks.

Here’s what MLB Pipeline has to say about the 22-year-old Burns, who was pitching at Wake Forest last spring.

“There are no questions about Burns’ velocity. His fastball sits in the upper 90s and touches 102 mph, but it did get hit a fair amount at Wake and he allowed 10 homers off the pitch in 2024, according to Synergy, because it tends to straighten out with a lack of deception. His upper-80s slider is one of the best secondary pitches in any system, one that elicited a 64 percent miss rate last year. His slightly slower, low-80s curve gives him a second plus breaking pitch.

"The athletic right-hander doesn’t use his upper-80s changeup as much, but it will flash plus with fade when he’s really clicking. His biggest area of improvement post-transfer was with his overall command, but he’s always been a solid strike-thrower.”

With the Demon Deacons, he made 16 starts and finished 10-1 with a 2.70 ERA. In 100 innings, he struck out 191 batters and walked 30 for a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 6.37.

Burns broke the single-season strikeout mark at Wake Forest.

It is possible he could wind up with the Cincinnati pitching staff later this season with continued strong outings at Louisville.