Tony Vitello comments on the departure of Chase Burns to the transfer portal
Tennessee hurler Chase Burns officially entered the transfer portal Tuesday morning after much speculation over the past few weeks.
Vols skipper Tony Vitello addressed the situation on his weekly appearance with John Wilkerson and Vince Ferrara on 99.1 The Sports Animal.
“That one you asked about is a good case of, it’s actually pretty straightforward. We’ve known that he would be gone for a while, but it’s a good case to be careful about what you read on Twitter,” the coach answered. “Like I said, that’s been pretty straightforward.
“This season went in a lot of different ways and we as coaches have to do what we think is best for the whole group and find a way to try and win games. In the end, I think that worked out fairly well.”
The right-handed pitcher 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.
“For his case, he is going to take his efforts somewhere else. It’s been a deal where he’s done more than a lot for the program, not just last year but of course this year too,” the coach continued. “Over the course of this year, he became the No. 1 popular pitcher – maybe in the country but definitely in his class. He’s probably ranked No. 1 as a pitcher in his class at this point.
“It’s a different day and age. He’ll take those efforts somewhere else and we wish him the best.”
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.
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.
Burns is expected to be one of – if not the – biggest names in the transfer portal this offseason.
