Who Is Chase Burns? The Reds Just Bet Seven Years and $105 Million on Him — His Stats, Story and the Contract Details

Chase Burns is the Cincinnati Reds' 23-year-old ace right-hander — the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 draft out of Wake Forest — and the Reds just made him the face of their future, agreeing to a seven-year, $105 million contract extension that keeps him in Cincinnati through the 2033 season. Barely a year after his big-league debut, Burns is an NL All-Star with a league-leading 11 wins, a 2.54 ERA and one of the most feared fastballs in baseball. Here's who he is, what he throws, and exactly what the Reds just paid for.

The Extension: Seven Years, $105 Million, No Options

The deal, first reported in mid-July 2026 and covered by MLB Trade Rumors, guarantees Burns $105 million over seven years and runs through 2033. Notably, it contains no club or player options — a clean seven-year commitment on both sides. Burns wasn't even eligible for salary arbitration yet and was already under team control through 2031, so the extension effectively buys out two of his would-be free agent years. For a pitcher with barely more than a season of service time, it's one of the boldest bets a small-market club can make — and one of the clearest votes of confidence a young arm can receive.

Who Is Chase Burns? From Tennessee Transfer to No. 2 Pick

Burns' college story is a two-act play. He spent his first two seasons with the Tennessee Volunteers, then — feeling he had plateaued in Knoxville — transferred to Wake Forest for the 2024 season. The move transformed him. With the Demon Deacons he set a school record with 191 strikeouts in a single season and was named ACC Pitcher of the Year, rocketing up draft boards.

The Reds took him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft and signed him for a $9.25 million bonus — at the time a draft record, breaking the mark Paul Skenes had set the year before. Burns then tore through the minors, jumping three levels in eleven weeks and becoming the first pitcher from the 2024 draft class to reach the majors.

The Fastball — and the Numbers Behind the All-Star Season

Burns' calling card is a fastball that sat 95–97 mph in college and touched 102. In his MLB debut on June 24, 2025 against the Yankees, he averaged 98.1 mph and struck out the first five batters he faced — the first starting pitcher since at least the expansion era (1961) to open a debut that way. He pairs the heater with a wipeout slider that was his primary secondary pitch from day one.

The 2026 season has turned promise into production. Heading into the All-Star break, Burns owns:

• 11 wins — the most in the majors at the break
• 2.54 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP
• 118 strikeouts against 37 walks in 102 2/3 innings
• His first NL All-Star selection, with Sports Illustrated placing him squarely in the NL Cy Young conversation

Why the Reds Moved So Early

Locking up stars before they ever reach arbitration is the defining front-office trend of this era, and July 2026 has supplied a run of examples — MLB Trade Rumors covered the Cardinals' extension for young infielder JJ Wetherholt the same month. The logic is simple: the team trades a bigger guaranteed check today for cost certainty and extra years of control tomorrow, while the player trades some future earning power for generational money before injury risk can take it away. For a franchise like Cincinnati that rarely wins bidding wars in free agency, extending Burns now — alongside the earlier long-term deal for fellow flamethrower Hunter Greene — is the only realistic way to keep an ace in a Reds uniform into his 30s.

His Background: A Navy Family and a Tennessee Upbringing

Burns was born on January 16, 2003, in Naples, Italy, where his parents, David and Trinetti Burns, were stationed while serving in the U.S. Navy, as reported by Sportskeeda and other outlets. The family later settled in Gallatin, Tennessee, where Burns became a standout at Beech Senior High School. His father played college football at North Greenville, and his older sister, Breanna Burns, studied psychology at UT Chattanooga before pursuing a master's in counseling at Tennessee, per published reports. Burns is represented by VaynerSports. Baseball family stories keep resonating this summer — see our Kyle Karros story for another one.

What It Means for Cincinnati

The Reds now control a potential Cy Young winner through his age-30 season at an average of $15 million a year — a bargain if Burns stays healthy, and a statement that Cincinnati intends to contend around its young core rather than trade it away. It also sets the market tone for every team weighing whether to pay young pitching now or later — a calculus the Dodgers know well from their own bullpen spending, as we covered in our Tanner Scott story. For Reds fans, the takeaway is simpler: the best young arm the franchise has developed in a generation isn't going anywhere.

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