Tennessee considered itself lucky when Burns decided to head to college. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder could've picked where he was getting drafted had he agreed to a certain bonus. However, he decided to head to Knoxville and he has been a life saver for this pitching staff with another hard-throwing righty, Blade Tidwell, on the shelf with an injury. Burns impressed the past two weekends against Georgia Southern and Iona, top-ranked Texas was entirely another test. Even on the big stage at Minute Maid Park, Burns put together an outstanding performance against the Longhorns. Burns got plenty of oohs and aahs in the first inning when he sat 95-98 mph with his fastball, but it was his cutter that impressed the most as the night progressed. Burns allowed a hit in the second inning, otherwise struck out the side — all on 86-89 mph cutters. That was a recurring theme the rest of the night as the talented righty struck out three more batters in the third inning on cutters and struck out another batter in the fourth inning on, you guessed it, a cutter. Burns gave up a home run to Trey Faltine on a 93 mph fastball in the fifth inning, but otherwise, he added three more strikeouts to end the night. He struck out 10, walked one and allowed just one run on two hits in five innings. In addition to excellent maturity and composure on the mound, Burns showed electric stuff. He commanded his fastball much of the night and dominated right handed hitters with the cutter. Burns also showed a power curveball at 81-82 mph, but often, he just needed the two-pitch arsenal of the fastball and cutter to get the job done. It's to be determined when Tidwell will be able to come back, but Burns is proving he's a more than suitable front-line SEC ace. Not bad for a freshman. (Rogers)

A Tennessee recruit, Burns has a physical, durable frame and relatively easy delivery. Last summer, he topped out at 90 at the Tennessee Top Prospect Games. At the PBR Classic this June, he drew a crowd with reports of him sniffing triple digits and he didn’t disappoint, touching 100 in his first inning. He hit 98 in all four of his innings of his appearance and his last two pitches were 99 and 98. He sits comfortably in the mid 90s and the fastball jumps out of his hand with an average spin rate of 2400 and elite induced vertical break as it rides through the zone. He controls the zone well and threw 76 percent strikes in that outing, with his misses not missing by much. He mixes in a high-80s cutter and high-70s breaking ball. The cutter showed flat break with gyro spin at times. The breaking ball flashes two-plane break and swing-and-miss potential.

Burns came out firing bullets at 96-99 and against the third batter, he touched 100. After striking out two in the first, he settled into the mid 90s, but hit 98 in each of the four innings he logged and his last two pitches were 99 and 98. He kept his fastball around the zone and threw 76 percent strikes on the way to fanning eight. He didn’t allow a baserunner. While he used mostly fastballs to overpower hitters, he also mixed in a slider and curveball. The slider played more like a cutter, sitting 87-89 with flat action and minimal break. The curveball showed potential in the high 70s with sharpness.

Burns sky-rocketed his stock this summer becoming one of the biggest risers in the 2021 class moving from 61 to 12 (+49). At Top Prospect Games in June, Burns was dominant at 86-90 w/ power slider at 77-80.  Burns also showed good feel for changeup (80-84).  The Tennessee commit looks to build off a great summer in 2020.  

8/11/18 - Max FB: 83, FB: 80-83, CB: 68-70, CH: 71-74
6-foot-0, 180-pound, RHP showed intriguing arm-speed w/ 3-pitch mix.  Medium, athletic frame w/ high-waist, some present lower half strength, projectable.  Pitches from a full wind-up into H ¾ to 3/4 release from the middle of the rubber.  Preset back foot.  Simple, repeatable delivery.  Occasionally plays catch-up with his arm, causing his arm slot to drop.  Downhill plane.  Straight FB w/ occasional short cut.  Tight medium downer CB w/ proper shape and rotation.  Straight CH w/ arm-speed.  Around the zone.