Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns (26) makes his MLB debut in the first inning of the MLB interleague game between the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Yankees at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Goal for Cincinnati Reds Rookie Phenom on Friday is Clear

Originally posted on Cincinnati Reds on SI | By Jeff Carr | Last updated Jul 11, 2025 3:18 PM ET

The Cincinnati Reds begin a three-game set with the Colorado Rockies on Friday night, and the most important thing to watch will be who is on the mound.

Chase Burns makes his fourth career start. His first three have been quite varied, but largely solid. There is one thing I would like to see from his next performance.

Burns needs to have a walk-free performance.

The Rockies are horrible, which means Burns needs to not beat himself in this start. He can go a long way to accomplish that by not giving up free base runners.

Burns has done well to keep the majority of his pitches in the strike zone. He throws over 52% of his pitches in the zone which is well above the league average of 48%.

He has a higher walk rate than the league average pitcher right now, but that can change quickly since he is just a few starts in.

Game one between the Reds and the Rockies will begin at 7:10 ET.

This article first appeared on Cincinnati Reds on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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