The Cincinnati Reds have been without Chase Burns for exactly one month as I type this. On August 8th he struck out 10 batters and allowed one run in 6.0 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. That was his last appearance as he was moved to the 15-day injured list with a right flexor strain a few days later. Manager Terry Francona noted to the media before the start of tonight’s game that Burns has a bullpen session on Tuesday and if that goes well that he could be activated on Friday. This was first reported by C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic.
There had been some ups-and-downs for Chase Burns after he was promoted to join the Reds in the big leagues. In his eight starts he had a 5.24 ERA while giving up 33 hits and walking 13 batters in 34.1 innings. He had also struck out 57 of the 151 batters that he faced.
Things had gone better for Burns after his disastrous start in Boston where it seemed the Red Sox were able to see that he was tipping pitches and they scored five runs against him in 0.1 innings before he was pulled from the game. In the six starts that followed his ERA was 3.72 and he held hitters to a .202 average.
It wasn’t clear what role that Chase Burns would be returning to. Between his time in the minor leagues and major leagues this season, Burns has thrown 100.1 innings. He threw 100.0 innings in 2024 while pitching for Wake Forest. That would lead you to believe there’s probably more innings available for him, particularly with just three weeks remaining in the regular season. But the Reds may want to utilize him in a more specific way out of the bullpen than throwing him into the rotation and pushing someone else into a relief role where they may not be as effective as Burns could be.
How often can he pitch? If every 2-3 days, he could take a load off of Barlow, Santillan, and Pagan by throwing a couple of innings every outing as they apparently had him simulate two innings in the live bullpen last week.
I thought Burns had a scheduled bullpen last Saturday….It seems the staff is managing this case carefully regardless if the Reds is fighting or not for a playoff berth because it getting late to activate Burns when there is a possibility the team could be done in the season for the weekend
Valuable arm that would be welcome back, especially in some semblance of a relief effort.
Doug you read my mind. I was just going to ask… what is going on with Chase Burns? Thanks for the update.
I recall thinking, when the Reds drafted Burns No. 1 in 2024 behind Bazzana, they had made the best pick — ever. Condon went No. 3 and then Nick Kurtz, Burns’ teamie at Wake went to the A’s in the 4 slot. No way did I believe Kurtz was as good a pick as Burns.
If he’s healthy, why not? Reds added Milt Wilcox late in 1970 and he was a big help the rest of the season and postseason.
55 years ago.
A different pitcher.
A different injury.
Why does this have any relevance at all?
Don’t understand the waisted simulated innings let him be an openener 2-3 innings against SD where we need them where they count save bull pen it’s a win win thought the same thing about hunters last 2 simulated starts
TOO LATE !!!!
Yes, they needed him against the Pads. But that’s par for the Bad New Reds’ course.
No reason to risk injury at this point . Time to prepare for 2026 .
any updates on Rhett Lowder? I’m assuming he’s not going to be pitching at all this season.
He’s throwing. They apparently don’t have enough time to get him ready for the regular season. I suppose that they could put him in the Arizona Fall League, as they did with McLain last year, but I never understand why they pick who they do for the AFL.
Personally, I don’t have much faith in Lowder’s ability to stay healthy. If he ever pitches effectively for the Reds again, I’ll be surprised. But I hope I turn out to be an idiot on that point.
I’ve heard guys who were former players talk about their experiences coming up through the minors. A theme with many of them is that every player who is not a superstar with a bullet next to his name needs someone looking out for his welfare when it comes to advancement.
Maybe the guys picked for the AFL are the ones whose “guardian angel” is at the highest pay grade???
If I were Reds, I would err on side of extreme caution with Burns. Unless the Mets & Giants implode, and the Reds suddenly become the BRM. Burns could be a key contributor NEXT YEAR. Or, he could have an even more significant arm injury and be lost for an extended time.
They have 15 games left. They need to manage each game like a playoff game. That either Burns or Martinez need to be ready to go 3-4 innings at the first sign that the Starter doesn’t have it that day. The other one needs to be the 7th inning guy.
This is the whole point that so many aren’t getting. It’s a 162 game season. You are within three games of the playoffs with 18 games left. That doesn’t happen every year. And for Cincinnati definitely not every year. So frankly, the point is when you’re this close you have to throw everything into it, like every single game as it’s a playoff game. I said this 2 weeks ago. The problem with the Reds management is that there is no sense of urgency even when you are 20 years away from actually winning a playoff series, let alone making them in 2020 if you want to call it that. So for the last time what are we waiting for? There is no doubt in my mind that this team could have made the playoffs. Not that they still can’t but would have had a much better chance if management would have been much more aggressive. I hope the Padres ultimately proved my point by winning World Series.