The Cincinnati Reds haven’t had the season they would have hoped for this year. Rather than contending for a postseason spot, it seems like they’re out of the race, with an outside chance to finish at .500 for the season.
But they’ve seen some incredible breakout performances from players like Sal Stewart and Chase Burns, among a few others.
Kerry Miler of Bleacher Report recently listed the breakout year from Burns in his sophomore season as the No. 11 biggest breakout of the 2026 season. Burns is likely to finish top five in the National League Cy Young voting this year.
“See: Caglianone, Jac. Got to have him somewhere on this list, but it’d feel weird to call it a top-10 breakout story,” Miller wrote. “Burns went No. 2 overall in 2024, mowing through the minors and making his MLB debut less than 12 months later. He had a 5.24 ERA through his first eight starts before missing five weeks with an elbow injury and returning as a reliever for the home stretch. But like Caglianone, we expected big things for his sophomore season. He has delivered in a huge way, likely to finish top five in the NL Cy Young vote.”
It’s hard to call Burns a true breakout player, which is why he’s not ranked higher on this list, because he’s expected to be a star. But few people expected him to break out with this level of dominance in his second year in the league.
The righty holds a 2.79 ERA over 145 1/3 innings this season. He’s 15-3 this year and has been the best pitcher on the Reds roster by a wide margin. Across his 26 starts, Burns has struck out 171 hitters while only allowing 50 walks. He ranks near the top of the league in wOBA and xwOBA, which indicate that he’s not getting lucky with his batted balls allowed.
Burns is running a chase rate over 35 percent with a whiff percentage over 30 percent. He also ranks near the top of the league in strikeout percentage and zone contact rate.
All in all, Burns has incredible stuff and incredible velocity. This combination allows him to dominate in the zone and generate a lot of swings on pitches outside of the zone. The future is bright for the Reds righty.
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