Reds’ Hunter Greene Tosses Two Scoreless Innings in First Rehab Start
Cincinnati Reds right-hander Hunter Greene returned to game action for the first time in a month-and-a-half Tuesday night, making his first rehab start in the Arizona Complex League.
Greene, sidelined since June 17th due to right hip discomfort, made his highly-anticipated ACL debut against the San Francisco Giants’ affiliate at Goodyear Ballpark, the shared spring training home between the Reds and Cleveland Guardians. And it was certainly a positive step forward.
The 23-year-old completed two shutout innings, allowing just one hit while striking out three before departing. Vladimir Gutierrez entered in the third, working a clean 1-2-3 inning in his second appearance while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The Reds’ ace retired the first batter of the contest via popout before allowing a single, which proved to be his only blemish. He then recorded a swinging strikeout and induced a fielder’s choice at second base to conclude the top half of the first.
Greene’s second inning was even tidier, as it included a groundout and two strikeouts, one via called strike three and the other a swinging punch out. While radar readings in ACL games aren’t available to the public, it’s fair to assume the young righty blew opponents away with his high-90s fastball.
That was one of many steps the 6-foot-5 flamethrower must clear before potentially returning to the majors when first eligible on Aug. 17th. His next test is expected to come against improved competition at Triple-A Louisville, per The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans.
Prior to his ACL start, the second-overall selection from 2017 threw live batting practice at Cincinnati’s player development complex in Arizona last Friday, which clocked his fastball in the 96-99 mph range. The tentative plan is to have him return to the Reds’ rotation on August 20th.
If things play out that way, Greene would start the finale of a three-game series at home versus the Toronto Blue Jays. But a spot on the 40-man roster would first need to be cleared after the hard-throwing righty was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room for newly acquired lefty Sam Moll.
Cincinnati’s rotation has been without three regulars (Greene, Gutierrez, Nick Lodolo) for much of this season, placing higher workloads on Graham Ashcraft and Andrew Abbott. It also forced Ben Lively, Brandon Williamson and Luke Weaver into a staff that has struggled to a 5.39 ERA.
An eventual return from Greene could be monumental for a club that entered Wednesday’s slate just a half game ahead of the second-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. But they’ll also need Lodolo and Gutierrez to return shortly as well.
The young phenom, pitching in the first season of a six-year, $53-million extension signed last April, posted a 3.93 ERA and 3.57 FIP with 100 strikeouts to just 31 walks across 73.1 innings in 14 starts before landing on the IL in June.
The Los Angeles, Cal., native performed to a 4.44 ERA and 4.37 FIP while punching out 164 batters over 24 starts as a rookie last season.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Minda Haas Kuhlmann. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.