Cincinnati Reds high-powered rookie Chase Burns, the No. 2 overall pick in last year's draft, went on the IL with a flexor strain (near the elbow).
For a gut-punch arm injury to an important player in a team’s playoff plans, the Chase Burns diagnosis “was probably the best-case scenario that you could ever hope for,” Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona said.
Burns, the rookie with a 100-mph fastball and electric slider, landed on the 15-day injured list Aug. 15 because of a Grade 1 flexor tendon strain near his elbow.
The hope, Francona said, is that Burns might feel pain-free within a few days and start throwing again. But the club is proceeding with abundant caution with last year’s No. 2 overall draft pick.
“If that’s the case, he probably won’t be down very long,” Francona said. “But we’re going to certainly do the right thing. We do it with everybody. But we’re not going to rush this kid.”
Burns, who dominated at three minor-league stops during this first professional season, has made eight big-league starts since a June 24 promotion to debut against the New York Yankees.
His first eligible day to return from the IL would be Aug. 27, the final day of a three-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
But it won’t take much of a twinge or discomfort to push that timeline back, even significantly.
Burns was a candidate to move to the bullpen at some point in the next week or two for use as a closely monitored weapon as the club drives for a playoff berth and operated from a plan to manage Burns’ workload well enough to allow him to keep pitching through the end of the season.
The injury all but assures a bullpen role when/if he returns this season.
He had about 35 innings left within the club’s roughly mapped-out limit at the time of the injury.
Francona said Burns’ discomfort became a big enough issue to address it with an MRI about an hour before game time Aug. 13, when he was originally scheduled to be available out of the bullpen if necessary.
“He said he felt it a little bit in (his last start in) Pittsburgh, but nothing (major),” Francona said. “He got it worked on Tuesday, and he said he woke up Wednesday really stiff, really feeling it. But he still went about all his throwing and everything.”
That’s when pitching coach Derek Johnson approached Francona about getting Burns checked.
“For a while there, we were pretty nervous,” Francona said. “But from listening to (the doctors), they say he’s going to be fine.”
The Reds’ rotation got Opening Day starter Hunter Greene back from a months-long groin injury this week, so for now the rotation just stays in line, including swingman Nick Martinez, the starter for this weekend’s series opener against the Brewers.
Greene pitched six scoreless innings against the powerful Philadelphia Phillies in his return.
Left-hander Nick Lodolo (finger blister) threw Friday and is expected to throw a side session from a mound Aug. 17. If he fares well, he’s eligible to return Aug. 20 against the Angels in Anaheim.
If that’s not enough depth, left-hander Wade Miley, who had a setback with his surgically repaired elbow three appearances into his return in June, was scheduled for a two-inning (40 pitches) minor-league rehab start Aug. 15.
Francona called it a “one step at a time” process for Miley’s rehab assignment.
The Reds were a half-game out of playoff position with 40 games left and the toughest remaining schedule in the league as they opened the Brewers series.
Burns has a 5.24 in eight starts since earning a debut in his first professional season – 3.72 with 49 strikeouts in 29 innings across his last six starts, since failing to get out of the first inning in Boston because he was tipping his pitches. He has struck out 10 in four of his last five starts, falling short of that mark only in the Speedway Classic game in Bristol, Tennessee, because his start got wiped out by rain after one inning.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds' plans for Chase Burns flexor injury, pitching staff
Category: Baseball
