No. 16 Draft prospect Burns delivers 'Skenes, Lowder-esque' 14-K performance
Righty sets career high in strikeouts, displays devastating arsenal for Wake Forest
Ben Weinrib
@benweinribChase Burns arrived at Wake Forest after transferring from Tennessee as one of the top prospects in the 2024 Draft. The right-handed pitcher had just finished third in the nation in strikeout rate (14.6 per nine innings) and was on the 2023 Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list.
But in less than a year with the Demon Deacons, Burns has made adjustments to his delivery that have helped accentuate his already-electric stuff and allowed him to pitch better than ever.
In Saturday night's 6-3 home win, the junior struck out a career-high 14 batters as he held a potent Duke offense to one run on two hits with two walks over six innings. After giving up a leadoff single, he proceeded to strike out the next seven batters and registered at least two K's in every frame.
Burns' strong start to the season raises the possibility of him going even higher in the Draft than his already-lofty No. 16 Draft ranking would suggest. Could he follow in the footsteps of fellow Demon Deacon Rhett Lowder (MLB Pipeline's No. 34 overall prospect), who went seventh overall in 2023? As high as No. 1, like Paul Skenes (No. 3 prospect), who also took a leap after transferring to a bigger program?
"I think his 95th pitch was 100 miles an hour," Wake Forest head baseball coach Tom Walter said. "I don't know what else to say. That's as good an outing when we needed it as I've ever seen. I mean, that was certainly Paul Skenes and Rhett Lowder-esque. That was really, really special."
Coming into the season, Burns' fastball velocity and devastating slider were well established, but questions remained about the shape of his heater and his command. Although the season is young, he appears to be addressing both issues in short order.
Burns has been working with pitching coach Corey Muscara on staying closed in his delivery and being more direct to home plate. By picturing that there's a wall behind him, he's found that he's less likely to fly open, which helps make all of his pitches better.
Fastball velocity is certainly valuable, but Burns was hit around more than one would expect last year -- given his velocity ramped up to 102 mph -- because the pitch was often flat or had arm-side run. With his adjustments, he's getting a lot of ride and even some cut on the pitch, which has helped improve his strikeout numbers to 16.6 per nine innings.
"I saw glimpses of it last year where it had some ride," Burns said. "Coming here, they told me that that type of fastball is going to play. Staying direct and directional to a straight line has helped me up that fastball with some ride, and it's helped me out a lot."
Burns is pitching with more conviction, which has helped give him confidence in his little-used secondary pitches, including a changeup and surprise curveball. He feels that he has a better idea of what to do in each count and when to empty the tank.
How effective his adjustments prove to be may come down to how much his control improves throughout the year. After issuing eight total walks over 17 1/3 innings in his first three starts, Burns only walked two batters Saturday.
Given how quickly he's picked up on these changes, Walter and the Wake Forest staff believe there's only more in store.
"He and [Muscara] have worked really hard on his delivery, and Chase is such a good athlete that once he understood how he wanted to move, it's really just exploded since then," Walter said. "He's getting better and better."