Chase Burns arrived in the big leagues with a flourish, striking out the first five hitters he faced for Cincinnati in his debut against the New York Yankees.
He's just the latest young pitcher in the NL Central to show his impressive potential.
Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes, of course, finished third in the National League Cy Young race as a rookie last year. More recently, Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski threw 11 straight hitless innings to start his career and then beat Skenes in a head-to-head matchup Wednesday. Now Burns, the No. 2 pick in last year's draft, has reached the majors, and Skenes could have some help in his own rotation whenever Bubba Chandler — MLB Pipeline's No. 2-ranked prospect — is promoted to the Pirates.
These pitchers have given the NL Central quite a shot in the arm after the Chicago Cubs have appeared in control of the division at various points. Milwaukee has won 22 of its last 31 and trails the Cubs by just two games now. Cincinnati has won 14 of its last 21. Even the last-place Pirates have played better than .500 baseball for over a month, and they just swept three straight from the New York Mets by a combined score of 30-4.
Four teams in the NL Central are at least four games over .500, and every team has an ERA under 4.00 — the only division that can say that. These young starters, who have joined more established pitchers like Freddy Peralta of the Brewers and Hunter Greene of the Reds, suggest the future is bright in the division — as long as you're not a hitter.
SF slump
The Giants dropped two of three to the lowly Chicago White Sox immediately after losing three in a row to Miami. San Francisco is now 7 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers and has gone 4-8 since its big trade for Rafael Devers.
Devers has hit .217 since arriving from the Boston Red Sox.
