Chase Burns Takes His Place Among The Best In College Baseball

Tenessee Volunteers pitcher Chase Burns had an incredible season. His pitching pushed the Vols deep into the postseason and elevated them in many ways.

Chase Burns was a breakout star in his sophomore season with the Volunteers. In 72 innings pitched, he finished with 114 strikeouts and walked just 22 batters. He also gave up only ten home runs. 

While facing 297 batters in the 2023 season, Burns had a strikeout percentage of 38%. This means he struck out over a third of the opposing players he faced. What intangibles get him to the high strikeout rate he earned in 2023? Burns had an incredible fastball that developed from 2022 until now. The velocity on his fastballs increased dramatically into the 100 mph range. This was combated alongside a hard slider that could easily throw batters off-speed as they began to be accustomed to Burns' fastball.  One big change Burns went through this season was the number of starts he made. He came out of the bullpen more in 2023 and made just eight starts compared to 14 in 2022. The bullpen change may have led to more earned runs as he was put in more sticky situations. Burns' ERA went from 2.91 to 4.25 from his first to second season. However, one change that did not occur that much was his opponents' batting average. In 2023, he held opposing lineups to a .222 average. This was only a .006 increase from 2022. 

Chase Burns, Tennessee Pitcher

Tennessee infielder Christian Moore had many good things to say about Burns during this season's College World Series win against Stanford. He said, "Like he always does. He always has everything working. Fastball, changeup, slider, curve— I think he's throwing a sinker now, I don't know, but everything was working today, and he was dominant like always." Burns is only a sophomore and has a year or a couple more with the Tennessee baseball team in Knoxville. There is room to grow on an already incredible game from the mound. By the end of his career, Burns can really make some noise that can gain attention from MLB teams. 

You Might Also Like:

• Alabama Trending For Four-Star OT Daniel Calhoun
• What Would It Take For Tennessee To Make The CFP?
• Tennessee Freshman Faces: Nico Iamaleava

Join the community:

Follow Evan Crowell on Twitter: @EvanVCrowell

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right-hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook @VolunteerCountry & follow us on Twitter at @VCountryFN.