Chase Burns, a former Tennessee and Wake Forest pitcher, received a Major League Baseball record draft signing bonus from the Cincinnati Reds, according to MLB.com senior writer and draft analyst Jim Callis.
Chase Burns, a former Tennessee and Wake Forest pitcher, received a Major League Baseball record $9.25 million draft signing bonus from the Cincinnati Reds, according to MLB.com senior writer and long-time draft expert Jim Callis.
Burns, who was selected No. 2 overall by the Reds in Sunday’s first round of the MLB draft, signed for more than $500,000 less than the slot value of $9,785,000, but his $9.25 million bonus was still an all-time record — and more than the $8.95 bonus Sunday’s No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana received from the Cleveland Guardians on Friday.
Burns, a Nashville native, played for the Vols in 2022 and 2023 before moving to Wake Forest for his third and final college season.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Burns was a standout at Beech High School in Murfreesboro, and many were amazed he got it to college in the first place. Concerns about his signing bonus demands pushed him to the bottom of the 2021 draft, but he soon established himself as a key member of the Tennessee staff as a freshman in 2022.
Burns had 17 appearances and 14 starts as a freshman, going 8-2 with a 2.91 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. He wasn’t at his best early in his sophomore season, but he thrived out of the bullpen and helped Tennessee return to the College World Series in 2023. He made 18 appearances and eight starts that season, but his 5-3 record and 4.63 ERA did not represent the impact he had down the stretch. Burns came out of the bullpen in the College World Series against Stanford and had a performance to remember, striking out nine in six scoreless innings to help Tennessee win the elimination game.
That day in Omaha, he became the first bullpen pitcher to throw six or more scoreless innings in a World Series game since 1997. He also pitched 2.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen against Southern Miss in the Hattiesburg Super Regional, propelling the Vols back to the CWS. The previous week, he gave only one run in 6.1 innings of relief in a Clemson Regional triumph.
Those in and around the program knew Burns wasn’t delighted with his shift to the bullpen, despite the fact that it changed Burns’ and Tennessee’s seasons in such a positive way. Burns would probably certainly have returned to the starting rotation in 2024. But bridges were burned, and the powerful right-hander entered his name into the transfer portal, eventually committing to Wake Forest.
Burns’ season with the Demon Deacons was very successful, at least on an individual level. He remained one of the most dominant pitchers in collegiate baseball, going 10-1 with a 2.88 ERA over a career-high 100 innings. However, things did not go as planned for the Wake squad. The preseason No. 1 team in the country struggled on days when Burns did not throw, and they did not advance beyond the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament.
However, Burns’ potential status was not impacted. He concluded his college career with 408 strikeouts in 252.1 innings, and he headed into the draft expecting to be one of the first picks.
Tennessee had to devise a different pitching strategy than usual, especially after ace AJ Russell was injured early in the season and eventually shut down, but things worked out for the Vols, who finished near the top of the national ERA rankings and won the SEC championship, the SEC Tournament championship, and the national title.
Eight current Tennessee players were taken in this week’s draft, and a ninth, Zander Sechrist (Minnesota Twins), immediately joined with a club after the draft ended. A number of Tennessee signees were also chosen, but Tennessee feels a couple of those players will still make it to campus, and the Vols were able to retain a highly heralded class mostly intact heading into next season.
