Cincinnati Reds Andrew Abbott St. Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Reds LHP Andrew Abbott retired the final 18 hitters he faced in a 7-inning start to beat the Cardinals 4-1, lowering his season ERA to 1.79.
Matt McLain got his first impression of Chase Burns last summer when the Cincinnati Reds drafted the college right-hander No. 2 overall and sent him and other draft picks to Arizona, where McLain was rehabbing an injury.
Reds closer Emilio Pagán got his first impression of Burns a few months later during the Reds Caravan.
It was the same first impression.
“He’s a competitor, clearly,” McLain said.
So when Burns takes the mound Tuesday, June 24 for his major-league debut and stares down the barrel of Aaron Judge’s bat in the first inning of a start against the New York Yankees, the advice from his new big-league teammates is pretty simple:
Lean into the fight. And enjoy.
“He pitches with a lot of emotion already anyway,” Pagán said. “He always pitches kind of toeing that red line, so don’t change that. Instead of trying to tone it down and trying to maybe be something you’re not, just be you. And just remind him to have fun.”
Burns has roared through three levels of the minors this season, dominating at each stop with a powerful fastball, two excellent breaking pitches and competitive fire on the mound that looks at times like another gear.
The high-octane Yankees at packed, rollicking, bandbox Great American Ball Park?
“That’s usually when you get the most out of guys that are like that,” McLain said, “and enjoy that environment.”
Much like Rhett Lowder, who went from being drafted seventh overall to the big leagues last year in 13 months, Burns was in big-league camp this year in his first pro season, throwing his first professional pitch in his lone inning of work in the Cactus League before heading to minor-league camp to start working on the path that led to Tuesday.
“I caught him in spring, and his stuff is legit,” catcher Tyler Stephenson said. “I’m excited to see what he can do.
“He’s got to trust himself that he deserves to be here.”
Thirteen starts this year at three levels showed that much as Burns, 22, went 7-3 with a 1.77 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 66 innings. He walked just 13 batters, including just four in eight starts during his stretch at Double-A Chattanooga.
“Obviously, he hasn’t done it at the big-league level,” Pagán said, “but what he’s shown up to this point in college and coming through the minor leagues, nothing’s really fazed him to this point.
“Spending time with him during the Reds Caravan he seemed like an awesome kid, super sure of himself, pretty dialed in on his process and how he goes about his business,” Pagán added. “All those things are important to leading to success in this league. You put all that together with the stuff he has physically, his natural ability, and it’s exciting.”
Veterans in the clubhouse say they were impressed with the way Burns handled himself in camp, professionally, with purpose.
“What he does is more than enough,” said McLain, who made his own successful debut just two years ago and expects to talk with Burns before Tuesday’s start. “He doesn’t need to be anyone other than himself.”
Veteran pitcher Brady Singer’s advice for Baseball America’s eighth-ranked prospect in the game as he faces a Yankees team that leads the American League in scoring and home runs: “Trust your stuff.”
“He’s very lucky to have some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen from a young pitcher,” Singer said. “So trust yourself in the zone. You don’t need to be as perfect as you think you might need to be. Try to treat it like another game that you’re pitching, try to not do too much. Calm down and collect yourself and just go to work.”
Easier said than done for any player making his debut, especially in that first inning when butterflies and adrenaline rushes are all but inevitable.
“He’s worked his whole life to get here,” Pagán said. “And there’s no need to put any added whatever by trying to be something you’re not. Just go be Chase Burns. That’s been good enough this whole time.”