All-Star right-hander Chase Burns and the Cincinnati Reds are in agreement on a seven-year, $105 million contract extension, sources told ESPN on Thursday, locking up one of the best young pitchers in baseball well into the next decade.
Burns, 23, in his first full season with the Reds, is 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 102⅔ innings. Featuring one of the best sliders in baseball and a fastball that averages 97.9 mph, the second hardest of any big league starter, Burns has emerged as a potential future Cy Young Award winner.
The deal, which buys out two of Burns' free agent years, has no club options and runs through 2033. It is the largest ever for a pitcher who has yet to reach arbitration and the third-biggest contract in Reds history behind extensions given to Joey Votto (10 years, $225 million) and Ken Griffey Jr. (nine years, $116.5 million).
Chosen with the No. 2 pick in the 2024 draft out of Wake Forest, Burns debuted in the big leagues after throwing just 66 innings over 13 starts in the minor leagues. While Burns showed flashes of excellence, with 67 strikeouts against 16 walks in 43⅓ innings, he finished the year with a 4.57 ERA.
It didn't properly reflect the dominance Burns would later show -- and why the Reds will gladly pair him with fellow right-hander Hunter Greene atop their rotation going forward. Burns has more than a quarter of the wins for the 43-52 Reds, who are in last place in the National League Central. Their offense has scored the second-fewest runs in the NL.
Burns has long been an electric arm, spending two years at Tennessee before transferring to Wake Forest, whose pitching program is considered perhaps the best in college baseball. He dominated his junior season, striking out 191 hitters in 100 innings, and signed with the Reds for a then-record $9.25 million bonus.
With a clean delivery coming from a powerful 6-foot-3, 210-pound frame, Burns has quickly developed into a workhouse for the Reds. While evaluators wondered whether his relative lack of a third pitch would inhibit him -- Burns' changeup remains a work in progress -- the two-pitch pair has devastated hitters all season. Batters are hitting .206/.277/.358 against Burns, and his 31.7% miss rate on swings ranks seventh in the big leagues.
