Get to know Reds rookie Chase Burns

Heading into Chase Burns’ sophomore year of high school, he was a shorter guy who really wanted to dunk.

Burns’ first love was basketball, and his upside as a pitcher wouldn’t be clear until he went through a growth spurt later in high school. He pitched on his high school baseball team, mostly spotting pitches and relying on his command early in his career. But dunking seemed a lot more realistic than throwing 100 mph.

To reach that goal of dunking, Burns started a strength program. Then, he kept growing and growing. Sometimes, so fast that he’d feel taller when he woke up on some mornings. All of a sudden, he had unbelievable velocity for a teenager and was on his way to becoming one of the most talented rookie pitchers in MLB.

Right around that point in his high school career, he found himself falling in love with pitching.

“I really love how everyone is different as a pitcher,” Burns said. “There’s not just one cut way of pitching. Guys have different things that make them unique, and I think that’s really cool. I see pitching as an art. A dance. It’s really cool. Pitching, there’s so much information and analytics. It’s always cool to be able to throw 100 miles per hour. Not many people can do that. I just love pitching and learning more about it.”

Here’s more from Burns in a Q&A that hits on his family history, his hoops career, his passions off the field and how he looks at the MLB career that he’s just starting.

Where do you feel like your journey to get here to the big leagues began?

“When I was a young kid playing baseball at eight years old. Baseball was my second love. I really liked basketball a lot. I started growing really, really late. I kind of stuck with baseball. The velocity jumped. It just went from there.”

I know parents were in the Navy. What are they like?

“I had a great childhood. My dad played football, and that’s where I got my sports background. Their Navy background molded me. School, sports and hard work.”

You were born in Italy. Did you move around as a kid?

“Not really. They were stationed in a lot of different places. My sister was actually born in Japan when they were stationed there. They were in Italy and I was born. We only lived in Italy for eight months or a little bit longer. Then we moved around in the states a little.”

What was that like?

“My dad worked for the VA. He had a good job, so we didn’t move around much. But I lived in Mississippi for a little bit. I was in Tennessee and Mississippi. They did all of their moving in the Navy, so I didn’t really move too much.”

What made you a big basketball guy at first?

“My sister played basketball. My dad tried to put me in all the sports. I played soccer, basketball, baseball. I played a bit of football. I didn’t like football that much.”

What happened?

“They tried to make me a quarterback. I hated getting hit when I was smaller. Once I got older, I never really thought about it. I really liked basketball. My sister played it in high school. I played a bit in high school. But then I knew my calling was baseball.”

You said you grew late. Were you very good at baseball before the growth spurt?

“I had a niche for pitching. I was a typical guy who played shortstop and stuff like that. I usually was the smallest guy. I could always throw strikes. That’s why I pitched a lot. As I got older — freshman summer going into sophomore year — I popped an 87 (mph) out of nowhere. I started working out because of basketball. I wanted to dunk. I didn’t hit my growth spurt yet. It helped me in baseball. Junior year is when I saw the biggest jump. Once COVID hit, I really saw my body growing. I took strength training really seriously, and the velocity started to really jump.”

What was the process like getting stronger and into better shape?

“I remember while I was growing, me and my dad would wake up. I’d always tell him I felt like I grew. Sometimes, I could feel when I did. It was crazy. My dad played Division II football. He had some knowledge about strength training. He took me under his wing, and I started training with him. The rest was history. He has always been a big mentor for me. He’s my strength coach really.”

What do you like to do away from baseball?

“I’m a big video game guy. I like to chill. I like to work out.”

What do you play?

“(NBA) 2K. Call of Duty. This season I haven’t played that much because it’s my first pro season. Definitely in the offseason. I like to stream on Twitch.”

You do your own streams?

“Yeah. This offseason, I definitely know me and a bunch of other players (will). Cam Collier and (Blake) Dunn, we were talking about coming together and streaming a bit.”

Now that you’re a big leaguer and everyone knows who you are, I’m sure that will help the stream numbers.

“I want to use baseball as a vehicle for it. Do something cool with it. At the end of the day, I just do it for fun.”

What else do you like to do?

“I’m kind of a plain boring guy. That’s about it.”

You’re part of a wave of young pitchers that we’re seeing around baseball come up and have success. What’s it like seeing this generation of young pitchers emerge around the game?

“It’s cool. You get a lot more prepared in college. I had the opportunity to get drafted out of high school. I felt like I just wasn’t ready yet. Being in pro ball my first year now, I definitely wasn’t ready as an 18-year-old. Lots of learning to do in and out of baseball, being on your own for some time. It’s really cool to see pitchers come in now ready. It says a lot about the sport of baseball. You saw Skenes do it. Then Rhett did it. Now, it’s going to be an ever changing thing. You’re going to see a lot more polished pitchers coming out of college and being ready for the big leagues.”

You mention the polish. How important was that for you getting through the week between the Boston start and the Philly start? How’d you get through that?

“You’ve got to have a short memory. You’ve got to take away the positives and learn from it. Was I tipping? Was I not? I don’t know. I’m going to take away whatever I can and put that into my next start.”

What were the positives from the Boston start?

“I felt great. I felt like my routine throughout the week was really good. I felt really good mentally and physically. Those are some good positives.”

Derek Johnson said you handled it all matter of factly.

“I’m here to learn, if anything. I ask questions. I’ll take as much information as I can from anybody. I’m not the type of guy to think I have it all figured out. I don’t. Far from it. To have these guys around me, ask them questions and learn from them, I’m going to take advantage of it.”

I see you talking with Andrew Abbott in particular a lot. Has that been a good relationship?

“Abbott, he’s a fun guy to be around. We’re always talking baseball and also life and stuff like that. He’s a guy that I like to ask questions and stuff and pick his brain. It’s about everything. Even off the field. I have fun talking to him.”

Is there a piece of advice Abbott has given you that stands out?

“Just putting everything in perspective. I know I can be a little hard on myself at times. I should. I have high standards for myself. At the same time, being 22 in the big leagues, (Abbott) was letting me know I’m lightyears ahead of guys my age. Just be grateful that I’m here and continue learning.”

Maybe you don’t get to do this as much this season (Burns’ innings and pitches per start are being very closely managed and monitored by the team in his first pro season). When the time comes, how important is it to you to go deep into games and throw a lot of innings in a season? That old school stuff — maybe not this year — how much does that matter to you?

“I definitely want to be a guy who can be reliable to a team. Be able to throw that many innings. I probably won’t do that this year. I’m learning a lot throughout this process in the bigs as a 22 year old. That’s goals that I’ll be setting for next season and the season after. It’s huge. Then again, you just worry about the process.”

How much do you think about your career and what you want to do and the levels you want to reach?

“I used to think about it a lot. Now, I’m here and I’m taking it day by day. Just trying to get better every day.”

Some guys come up to MLB and say they want to do this, this and that. You don’t do that as much anymore?

“I wouldn’t say that I don’t have goals for myself. I do. I’m not thinking about them daily. I stick to my process throughout the week.”