ESPN: Aaron Judge of the Yankees gets brutally honest following Chase Burns spectacular debut.
After the New York Yankees lost to the Reds in the first inning in MLB history, Aaron Judge lauded Chase Burns’ outstanding debut.
The New York Yankees anticipated exploiting a rookie pitcher in his Major League Baseball debut on Tuesday night, but the events at Great American Ball Park were anything from typical. The Cincinnati Reds’ top prospect, Chase Burns, who was selected second overall in the 2024 MLB Draft, struck out eight hitters in five innings, including striking the first five he faced.
The first inning was the moment that made baseball fans turn their heads. Burns struck out Aaron Judge, the current MVP of the American League, Ben Rice, and Trent Grisham in just 14 pitches. It was the sort of introduction most typically associated with video games for a 22-year-old making his debut.
Judge had nothing but admiration for what he observed from the mound after the game. Mark Sheldon of MLB wrote an essay in which Judge expressed his admiration.
He’s jogging at a hundred miles per hour up there. All of his breaking pitches have a good feel. Seeing him go out there and do his thing was incredible. Young men like that are typically seen to be energized and flinging themselves around. But he ran us through the lineup the first time and did a fantastic job attacking the zone.
Gavin Lux’s game-winning single helped Cincinnati win 5–4 in the dramatic extra-inning finale between the Reds and Yankees. Burns was not taken into consideration, but his early dominance excited the home fans and laid the stage for a comeback.
Burns’ performance included 81 pitches, 53 of which were strikes, and he displayed a strong slider in addition to a triple-digit fastball. Without watching it, even die-hard fans would not believe that the right-hander became the first pitcher in the Expansion Era to strike out the first five hitters in his Major League debut.
The Yankees are still in first place in the AL East, but they are now only one game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Reds, meantime, are gathering momentum at the perfect moment as they continue to ascend in the NL Central and are currently only 4.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs, who lead the division.
Burns has formally made his MLB debut, regardless of whether this was only a moment of genius or a sign of things to come. And when Judge, an MVP, gives a tip? That says it all.
