Tennessee baseball star Chase Burns is in the transfer portal, GoVols247’s Ben McKee first reported and a trusted source confirmed to RTI. Burns immediately becomes the biggest name in the transfer portal after two strong years at Tennessee.
Burns started his career as Tennessee’s ace and Friday night starter in 2022. The right-handed pitcher posted an 8-2 record and 2.91 ERA in 80.1 innings pitched. The strong season earned Burns First Team All-SEC honors.
After a strong debut season, Burns struggled out the gates in his sophomore campaign. Burns gave up 23 earned runs in 17.1 innings in his first four SEC starts before Tony Vitello pulled him out of the weekend rotation and put him in the bullpen.
The move to the bullpen, along with Andrew Lindsey’s ascension to the starting rotation, changed Tennessee baseball’s season for the better.
Burns moving to the bullpen reset and got the talented right-handed pitcher back on the right track. Outside of a horrible outing at South Carolina, Burns was phenomenal out of the bullpen.
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball’s Needs In The Transfer Portal
The Gallatin, Tennessee native allowed just six runs in 31 innings out of the bullpen in the second half of the season. Burns was particularly phenomenal in the NCAA Tournament where he allowed just one earned run in 17 innings pitched.
The flame thrower gave Tennessee 6.1 crucial innings in a regional win over Clemson and six scoreless innings against Stanford in the College World Series. Burns was also critical in a pair of shorter relief outings against Southern Miss in the super regionals.
Burns entering the transfer portal is a huge loss for Tennessee baseball. While Burns ended his season in the bullpen, he would have likely reentered the starting rotation in his junior season.
In addition to Burns entering the transfer portal, Tennessee will lose a number of top pitchers to the MLB Draft including Lindsey, Seth Halvorsen and Chase Dollander. Tony Vitello’s squad returns pitchers Drew Beam, AJ Russell and Aaron Combs.
