Reds' top prospect following proven blueprint

This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon’s Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- If Chase Burns successfully follows the same trail Rhett Lowder blazed in 2024, the Reds' top pitching prospect could debut in the Major Leagues before the end of the 2025 season.

Burns, 22, wouldn't mind if it worked out just like that.

“Yeah, of course," he said. "The goal is to get my name called but you can’t really worry about it too much. I need to just worry about the process and not the result.”

In the meantime, Burns will be on the roster for and possibly pitch in the Reds’ second edition of MLB's Spring Breakout game vs. the Brewers prospects next Sunday.

Burns, who got into his first Cactus League game on Wednesday right before being sent to Minor League camp -- striking out three and allowing one walk in one scoreless inning -- is ranked by MLB Pipeline as Cincinnati's No. 1 prospect and No. 26 overall. He has thoroughly enjoyed his first Spring Training experience.

“It’s been everything I’ve expected and more just to be around the big league guys," Burns said recently. "I’m also a fan of the game. To be around a guy like Hunter Greene is really cool. But also to be around the younger guys who are my age and making an impact too is really cool.”

The second overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, Burns came out of Wake Forest like Lowder -- the seventh overall pick in 2023. Also like Lowder, he did not pitch professionally his first summer in the organization.

Instead, Burns spent much of the latter part of summer working out at the team's Spring Training complex before pitching in some instructional league games in the fall. That was also what Lowder did in 2023.

“It had its pros and cons," said Burns, who was signed on July 18 for a record $9.25 million bonus. “My body enjoyed it, just to be able to shut down, work on some arm care and be able to watch some baseball. At the same time, I was definitely itching to be out there.”

Lowder needed only 22 Minor League starts across three levels before he made his Major League debut on Aug. 30 and went 2-2 with a 1.17 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP in six starts for the Reds.

“He’s my roommate so to be able to come back and talk with him, pick his brain a little bit -- it’s been a huge source," said Burns, who wore No. 81 in camp, the same number Lowder wore for the Reds last season.

Greene has also been a resource for the right-handed Burns.

“We’ve had some talks," Burns said. "He’s been telling me to be myself and not change anything and to not be afraid to ask questions. I ask a lot of questions.

“I feel like there’s a right place and right time and I’ve been doing that pretty well.”

It hasn't been determined whether Burns will start his pro career at High-A Dayton or Double-A Chattanooga.

“There is a history in our organization -- whether it’s [Andrew] Abbott or Lowder -- of what they’ve done," Reds player development director Jeremy Farrell said. "Whether or not it’s exactly what we do with Chase, we just need to see him pitch. I’m anxious to see him out on a mound in a Reds uniform and then we’ll use the rest of spring to make that decision.”