Tennessee’s Chase Burns enters NCAA Transfer Portal
With the season coming to a close following a run to Omaha, Tennessee star hurler Chase Burns will enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, sources tell Volquest.
Tennessee coach Tony Vitello confirmed the news Tuesday morning on The Sports Animal.
“Pretty straightforward. We’ve known that he would be gone for a while but the good case to be careful about what you read on Twitter,” Vitello said. “Cause like I said that one has been pretty straightforward.”
The 6-foot-4, 195-pound sophomore from Beech High School in Gallatin, Tenn. finished the 2023 season with a 5-3 record and a 4.25 ERA. Starting the year off as the Saturday night guy in the three-man weekend rotation, Burns was moved to the bullpen midway through the Southeastern Conference and blossomed in the role. The righty concluded the season with 18 appearances, eight starts and 72.0 innings pitched with 114 strikeouts to just 22 walks.
He’ll be one of the hottest names on the market this offseason.
Burns was named SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week on April 24 for his two dominant relief appearances over top-five Vanderbilt after retiring 11-of-12 batters faced over two scoreless innings, picking up the victory in the critical Friday night contest.
As a reliever, arguably Burns’ best outing of the year came at the Clemson Regional against the Tigers on June 3 where he pitched 6.1 innings in the 14-inning thriller. The right-handed flame thrower allowed only one run off six hits, striking out eight and walking four over a season-high 99 pitches.
Burns went on to pitch even better in Super Regionals against Southern Miss and in the College World Series against Stanford – all three appearances coming in elimination games. The righty combined for 9.2 innings of two-hit baseball with no runs and 14 strikeouts compared to just one walk over the span.
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Against the Cardinal, Burns became the first reliever since 1997 to toss 6+ innings of scoreless baseball in a College World Series game. His nine strikeouts against Stanford tied Todd Helton for most punchouts by a Tennessee pitcher in a College World Series game.
The starter at the time was tabbed the College Baseball News National Player of the Week following his February 25 win over Dayton where the sophomore tossed 6.1 innings of two-hit and one-run baseball with 12 strikeouts and three walks on 83 pitches. He was also tabbed to the 2023 Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List.
Burns entered 2023 coming off a spectacular true freshman campaign where he picked up First-Team All-American honors from D1 Baseball, Baseball America, NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game. He was named the Freshman of the Year by D1 Baseball and recognized as a Second Team All-SEC recipient.
The pitcher becomes the seventh Volunteer to enter the NCAA transfer portal this offseason, joining fellow hurlers Jake Fitzgibbons, Jacob Bimbi, Hollis Fanning, Shawn Scott, Turner Swistak and outfielder Alex Stanwhich.
NCAA Baseball transfer portal opened on May 30 and will remain open for 45 days, closing on July 13.
