Reds select Wake Forest righty Chase Burns at No. 2

With the No. 2 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, the Reds selected Wake Forest right-hander Chase Burns.

Burns, MLB Pipeline’s No. 6 overall prospect, was the top pitcher available on the board. The junior righty boasts an electric arm that hurls fastballs upward of 100-plus mph and also breaks off an elite slider that’s made plenty of college hitters look foolish.

The ACC Pitcher of the Year and Golden Spikes finalist easily led all of college baseball this past season with 191 strikeouts in 100 innings, and he averaged just over 17 strikeouts per nine innings, which ranked second in the NCAA.

Burns, who transferred to Wake Forest in 2023 after two years at Tennessee, had double-digit strikeouts in 12 of his 16 starts in ‘24, punctuated by a career-high 16 punchouts against Clemson in May. Tweaks to his delivery have helped remedy command issues that plagued him at times earlier in his college career, the evidence being a career-low 0.920 WHIP in 2024. It’s a development that has brought high praise.

“He’s the best college pitcher I’ve seen,” Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter said.

The 21-year-old is also known for a fiery on-field persona, which Burns says is just another way to help his team win.

“I feel like I’m kind of like a firecracker on the mound,” he said in April. “Baseball’s a game of back and forth, of momentum. So when I’m out there on the mound, I’m just trying to get our momentum back. … When you have momentum from your defense, it can go into offense really easily.”

Judging by Wake’s success when Burns took the hill in 2024 (13-3 in games he pitched), that mound demeanor seemed to fuel the team nearly as much as his pitching.

“What makes him great is his mindset. He’s one of the biggest competitors I’ve ever been around, and he’s helped me elevate my mindset and my competitiveness too,” said fellow pitcher Josh Hartle. “He’s got all the intangibles to be really good.”

Off the mound, Burns is constantly in learning mode, looking for any way to up his game.

“I’m always going to be like that. It’s how I was raised,” he said. “I’m not going to sit there and get worse. I’m going to always try to get 1 percent better every day.”