TODAY: It doesn’t appear as though Greene will need surgery, according to multiple reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The exact results of Greene’s MRI aren’t known, nor his timetable for a possible return.
AUGUST 5: The Reds announced they’ve placed righty Hunter Greene on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 2, with a strain in his throwing shoulder. Reliever Ryan Hendrix has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.
Greene, who turns 23 tomorrow, has spent the year in the rotation after breaking camp with the big league club. The former second overall pick has made his first 20 starts at the major league level, working to a 5.26 ERA across 102 2/3 innings. Only Josiah Gray has allowed more home runs than Greene’s 23, but he’s also flashed the promise that made him one of the sport’s top pitching prospects. He’s averaging an absurd 98.7 MPH on his four-seam fastball and eclipsing triple-digits with regularity. Unsurprisingly, Greene has missed bats on an above-average 13.5% of his offerings and is striking out an excellent 28.8% of opponents.
It’s not clear how long the Reds anticipate Greene being out, but the mention of a shoulder injury certainly isn’t ideal. Cincinnati is looking ahead to 2023 as they sit near the bottom of the National League, so there’s no reason not to proceed with caution for a player so vital to the franchise’s long-term future.
Manager David Bell will have to patch things together on the mound. Along with Greene’s absence, Cincinnati shipped off Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle within the past week. Nick Lodolo, Mike Minor and Graham Ashcraft have established rotation roles, while the club brought up Robert Dugger as at least a spot starter for tonight. They’ll need to do the same on Sunday against the Brewers, when Greene had been slated to take the ball.
A guy who only throws gas and little control had arm/shoulder troubles? Color me shocked.
I still find it amusing anyone doesn’t believe throwing hard as they can every pitch plus with the high velocity isn’t good for your shoulder.
Yea i agree and its why ppl threw way more innings 15+ years ago. I know 98+ on every FB is hard to hit but you walk too many ppl. its better to hit 93 paint it and walk less ppl
I don’t think it’s just about how hard they throw. They’re also starting to throw a large amount of innings at a much younger age and many kids are playing baseball more of the year. It’d be really interesting to see the number of pitches thrown by a guy throughout his life now compared to someone 15+ years ago. I would be the increase in total number of pitches would be pretty shocking.
Great
little control?
9.3% walk rate isn’t little control. I feel this might be a phantom injury. He’s already reached 100+ innings this year and only came back last season after not pitching competitively for two seasons.
It’s very much tied to the workload as a kid. Players are throwing far too much year round and with far too much effort. Parents are pushing them into unhealthy situations and the system we’ve built allows for this. The damage is already done by the time they’re in highschool. It wasn’t all the sudden the shoulder went bad now. It was hanging by a thread for a while and finally snapped.
One of my personal favorite rookies, hope he’s ok structurally and this is a minor blip on the radar.
I’m hoping this is a blessing in disguise in the long run and is nothing more than a way to limit his innings since he throws so hard. I always try to have a positive outlook and hope for the best.
I’m wondering if it’s something he would have pitched through if this weren’t the end of the season when they’re trying to watch his innings. He gets to accumulate the service time while on the IL so they can’t manipulate his arbitration status
I put this injury on the Reds. Somebody should have coached him out of the idea of throwing 100+mph in a starting role. He was bound to get hurt. What’s the rational for burning up a young arm on lost season for a team going nowhere? They should be trying to develop him as a pitcher instead of treating him like a circus act to sell tickets.
Hey pitching guru guy- he’s already had Tommy John surgery so it’s safe to assume the organization has taken steps to ensure his long-term well being. 1st rounder with a lot of investment in him so no reason to think you’re smarter than everyone else by saying they should totally change what makes him special
Good to know. We’ll see how that works out for him. The Reds are so good at everything else, I’m sure you’re right.
I know, right? your favorite team never gets injured. you’re so lucky. funny how teams use Cincinnati doctors for their own tommy john surgeries tho.
stupid statement, Don. hey hunter! change everything you’ve ever been told….im sure NO arm injuries will result
Over the course of the season, he’s shifted away from throwing his hardest fastball all the time. It was getting hit for homers. Now he throws lots more sliders and he often takes something off his fastball.
Fair statement dan. Reds whole system is decimated by injury
He has a reputation for being uncoachable. They’ve likely instructed him about this as well as other pitching improvements, but his ego (and his dad’s ego) won’t allow the advice to be applied.
Reputation as uncoachable? What is the source of your information?
He sort of reminds be a bit of doc when he first came up, the raw talent is undeniable but the ball is flat and easy to square up.
This plays out in one of two ways:
1) they say it’s no big deal, he rehabs all winter, makes a few starts next spring and is inevitably shut down needing labrum surgery and misses all of 2023 and half of 2024
2) Just do the surgery now, miss all of 2023, and be ready for opening day 2024
Throwing 100 mph is immmaterial if you are giving up over 5 runs a game.
Most 22 year olds are in AA or lower. Plus he missed over a season w TJ. Haters gonna hate though !
Nothing you said refutes his point. I’d note that he’s not giving up 5 runs a game since he’s not throwing 9 innings an outing, but the point remains that throwing really hard doesn’t really matter if you’re getting poor results. Maybe he figures it out, he has lots of time, but that doesn’t make the original point any less true.
Just kind of a heads up since you are new to baseball. The National League first tabulated official earned run average statistics in 1912. The earned run average represents the number of earned runs a pitcher allows per nine innings — with earned runs being any runs that scored without the aid of an error or a passed ball. ERA is the most commonly accepted statistical tool for evaluating pitchers.
Check out his stats over his last 10 starts. He’s figuring things out.
That’s the important part. He has to learn his craft. You have to kind of learn how to get ahead of the count without necessarily throwing nothing but FBs. He’ll definitely be on my rotisserie radar next year.
And the beat goes on…..
How many times does this need to happen?
You’ll notice the starting pitchers coming up throwing 100 don’t do that for long. Not that they can’t, they will do it when they need it, but not consistently once they learn how to pitch instead of throw.
Hunter is learning that, you can tell in his later starts. He also talked to Castillo, Mahle, Minor and even guys on other teams so he is willing to pick the brains of others. He will be fine with some experience.