Hunter Greene

Christian Hunter Greene

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 4", Weight 215 lb.
High School Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks)
Debut April 10, 2022

Born August 6, 1999 in Los Angeles, CA USA

Biographical Information[edit]

Hunter Greene was the most hyped player coming into the 2017 amateur draft, in which he was selected second overall by the Cincinnati Reds. A phenom at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, CA, he made the cover of Sports Illustrated after his fastball was clocked at 102 mph. He was also a sensational shortstop, who would have been a top-ten pick based on his bat alone. He had been in the major league pipeline for years, having attended the Urban Youth Academy in Compton, CA starting at age 7. The only question was whether he would go first or second, as the Minnesota Twins, who held the first pick, were looking at a variety of players, while it was clear that the Reds would not let him pass if he was still available when their turn came, which is what came to be after the Twins settled on another California high schooler, SS Royce Lewis, first overall. The Reds announced that they were drafting Greene as a pitcher, but there was speculation that would also let him DH in the lower minors just to see how his bat played out in the professional ranks. Reds GM Dick Williams explained: "We're going to leave the door open for both. This is a very unique situation, something we've never been confronted with before."

It took a while for Greene and the Reds to come to an agreement on a signing bonus but a deal was finally reached on July 7th, minutes before the signing deadline. The Reds agreed to pay him a bonus of $7.23 million, the highest paid to anyone in that year's draft and in fact the highest since MLB had begun putting a cap on signing bonuses. He was assigned to the Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League to start his pro career. His pitching debut came on August 27th, when he worked an inning, after having played his first seven games as a designated hitter. One of his 15 pitches clocked in at 100 mph. He went 0-1, 12.46 in 3 starts and hit .233 with 2 doubles and a triples in 7 games, then was assigned to the Arizona Fall League.

Heading into the 2018 season, the Reds announced that Greene would concentrate on his pitching for the time being, although the Reds added that they were not "closing the door on developing him offensively" either. He was assigned to the Class A Dayton Dragons to start the year. In his first outing on April 9th, he hit triple digits on the radar gun. He was named to the United States team for the 2018 Futures Game. In the game, he relieved Justus Sheffield in the 3rd inning with a runner on first, and quickly gave up a homer to Luis Alexander Basabe on a 102 mph fastball. He also walked a batter and hit one, showing both impressive velocity and some wildness and a need to work on his secondary pitches. For the season, he went 3-7, 4.48 in 18 starts, striking out 89 batters in 68 1/3 innings; he did not bat at all. However, his season ended early due to a sprain in his pitching elbow, his last appearance coming on July 26th. More bad news followed in 2019 as on April 1st, the Reds announced that he would require Tommy John surgery and would miss the entire season as a result. He then experienced another setback when the 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the Coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, there was a lot of curiosity around his return to action during spring training in 2021, and he did not disappoint as he surpassed 100 mph with a number of his pitches during his first outing on March 2nd. He began the year in AA with the Chattanooga Lookouts and went 5-0, 1.98 over his first 7 starts. That got him promoted to the AAA Louisville Bats, where he also got to hit for the first time since 2018, something that attracted additional attention given the success that Shohei Ohtani was experiencing as a two-way player at the major league level at that time. He finished the year with a combined record of 10-8, 3.31 in 21 starts, with 106 1/3 innings and 139 strikeouts. For the record, he went 3 for 19 as a hitter (.158).

In 2022, he went to spring training with the objective of making the team's starting rotation, a goal he achieved successfully. His first big league start on April 10th was preceded by an inordinate amount of hype, with mlb.com devoting a whole section of its front page to the event, confident that he would be one of the sport's next charismatic stars. He was a winner in his debut, pitching 5 innings against the Atlanta Braves, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and striking out 7 while walking 2; he reached triple digits on the radar gun no less than twenty times during the outing. While he was charged with a loss in his second start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 16th, he set a record by throwing 39 pitches at 100 mph or above (out of 80), the most by any pitcher in a single game since this data was first tracked in 2008. The previous record belonged to Jacob deGrom, with 33 such pitches in a start the previous year. On May 15th, he pitched a great game against the Pittsburgh Pirates but still ended up with a loss: he held the Bucs hitless through the first 7 innings, but the game was still scoreless after the Reds stranded two batters in the top of the 8th. He retired Jack Suwinski to start the bottom of the inning, but then issued back-to-back walks to Rodolfo Castro and Michael Perez and was removed in favor of Art Warren, who loaded the bases by walking Ben Gamel. Warren induced Ke'Bryan Hayes to hit a ground ball to second base, but the Reds were only able to get a force out, allowing Castro to score what was the only run of the game. Greene and Warren thus combined on an unofficial no-hitter, but to no avail. That game was the last of a string of six consecutive starts in which he was charged with a loss. He finally saw a great performance be rewarded with a win on June 6th: starting against the Arizona Diamondbacks that day, he gave up just 1 hit in 7 innings, walked none and struck out 8 to receive credit for not only his third win but also for his first complete game and shutout as the game was ended by rain after two outs in the bottom of the 7th. The only hit he surrendered was a bunt single by DH Daulton Varsho to lead off the game and he then retired 20 straight batters. In spite of those flashes of brilliance, it was mostly a season of on-the-job learning for him, as he finished at 5-13, 4.44 in 24 games. In 125 2/3 innings, he allowed just 104 hits, and struck out 164 batters, and his one shutout was enough to earn him a tie for the major league lead.

In 2023, he had a difficult sophomore season, being limited to 22 starts and going 4-7, 4.82. He did improve his strikeout rate, with 152 in 112 innings, but overall the year was a disappointment as the Reds had hoped he would take a big step forward. That came a year later as he made the All-Star team for the first time and set a personal best for wins before the end of the first half. Starting on June 30th, he had a historic string of sox starts for the Reds in which he allowed just 2 runs in 37 2/3 innings, while striking out 46 batters. One had to go back to Johnny Vander Meer in 1938 to find another Reds pitcher with a string of six starts of one run or fewer; Vander Meer had of course pitched back-to-back no-hitters during his streak.

Following his rookie season, Greene went back to his roots in attending Major League Baseball's DREAM series organized in Tempe, AZ for minority youth ballplayers. He not only participated in all events, but also gave a hand-written letter of encouragement to all of the young participants at the event and histed them at his house in nearby Mesa, AZ. He was one of the first players to have gone through the program to reach the major leagues, so his involvement was particularly significant.

Notable Achievements[edit]

NL All-Star (2024)
NL Shutouts Leader (2022)

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Hunter Greene

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