Tuesday, July 01

BALTIMORE -- Despite giving up his first home runs in the Minors on Friday, Reds top prospect Chase Burns' professional career is off to an impressive start. 

Over three starts for High-A Dayton, Burns is 0-2 but has a 3.09 ERA. The 22-year-old is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 1 prospect in the organization and No. 24 overall.

Burns' first two games were particularly eye-opening. 

On April 4, Burns pitched four scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and six strikeouts. The right-hander followed that with one earned run, two hits, two walks and seven strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings for his first loss on April 11.

"Chase is off to a solid start," said Reds director of player development Jeremy Farrell. "It was two cold-weather outings where he has shown the ability to throw his fastball for strikes and he punched out almost 50 percent of the batters he faced."

On Friday at Great Lakes, Burns gave up a pair of first-inning home runs to Dodgers Top 15 prospects Zyhir Hope and Kendall George. But no one else reached safely after the first inning, and he retired his last 11 batters.

Over four innings, Burns gave up three earned runs on two hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. According to the Dragons' website, his fastball reached 100 mph at least 10 times. 

More importantly, after not pitching professionally last year, when he was the second overall selection in the 2024 MLB Draft, Burns is gaining experience and learning how to handle life as a professional.

“I think the thing that I've learned the most from is just really taking care of your body," Burns told Jonathan Mayo on the MLB Pipeline podcast last week. "You're throwing every day, you're at the field every day, and just your workload. As a pitcher, we see a lot of injuries now, and I think people are doing a better job now of taking care of their arms and looking at how many throws we're throwing each day.

“That's the biggest takeaway for me, because when you move up, you're going to be on that five-man rotation, and you want to be able to do that. You kind of have to build yourself up for that. I think I've been doing a great job at that."

After growing up in Tennessee, Burns has also adjusted well to pitching in Dayton -- which is about a one-hour drive north of Cincinnati.  

“Being in Dayton has been exciting. You can definitely feel Reds fans coming from Cincinnati," Burns told Mayo. "All of our games, we'll see a bunch of Reds fans, and Dayton shows out. So it's really exciting. It gives me a huge confidence to see the fans and how much they support a High-A team like that.”

Here are other good starts of note in the Reds' system.

Triple-A Louisville

Outfielder Ivan Johnson (NR) already has three home runs in his first 16 games and is batting .340 with a 1.010 OPS and 14 RBIs. Second baseman/left fielder Tyler Callihan (No. 29 prospect in the organization) has four homers while batting .329 with a 1.020 OPS in 18 games.

Double-A Chattanooga

Third baseman Sal Stewart, who is ranked No. 3 in the organization and No. 80 overall, is batting .333 with a .963 OPS and two home runs through his first 13 games entering Sunday. Stewart delivered a big moment on April 12 in Game 1 of a doubleheader vs. Birmingham when he slugged a walk-off grand slam.

Single-A Daytona

Right-handed pitcher Ty Floyd (No. 17), who missed all of last season because of shoulder surgery, has a 4.00 ERA through his first three starts. On April 11, Floyd allowed one run on one hit -- a homer -- over three innings with no walks and six strikeouts. He was the 38th overall selection in the 2023 Draft out of LSU.

Reds left fielder Austin Hays was back at Camden Yards for the first time this weekend since the Orioles traded him to the Phillies last summer. Hays, who was given a loud ovation and a video tribute on the scoreboard during Friday's game, met with Baltimore reporters before the series. 

One question posed to Hays was: Who is the better shortstop? His old teammate, Gunnar Henderson, or his current one, Elly De La Cruz? 

Without going into great detail, Hays answered smartly. 

“Oh man, that’s a tough question," he said. "I’ve got to go with Elly because I’m on the Reds and he’s younger right now. I’ve got to go with the guy that’s on my team.”

• Brent Maguire delved into how Hunter Greene has raised his game to another level this season.

• Friday's win was a good one to get for the Reds, who rebounded after a particularly poor game in a loss to the Mariners on Thursday.

• An old-school pitch is now back in fashion, writes Mike Petriello.

To subscribe to Reds Beat, visit this page and mark "Reds Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Reds or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2025 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.