Top pitching perspective Hunter Greene Made the lineup for the Reds opening day and will be out of rotation at the start of the season, manager David bell announced to reporters on Wednesday (Twitter link via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer).
Tyler Mahle will start on opening day and be followed by lefty Reiver Sanmartincorrect Vladimir Gutierrez and Greene. Cincinnati have an early day off that allows them to skip fifth in the rotation for the first time, and Mahle has already been announced as a starter for their fifth game (which is also their home opener). Investigator’s Bobby Nightengale adds that whoever is determined to be the fifth member of the rotation will likely start game six of the season.
Greene, 22, was the No. 2 pick overall in the 2017 draft. Initially selected as a two-way player, he has since been transferred exclusively to the mound and has done little to lose his stocks in the years since his call-up. Tommy John’s surgery wiped out Greene’s 2019 season, but he’s returned with the same three-digit heater and evil slider that made him such a desirable player as an amateur. He’s currently one of MLB’s top 35 prospects according to Baseball America, MLB.com, FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN, and The Athletic (where Keith Law is most optimistic about him, ranking him 12th overall).
Splitting the 2021 season between the Reds’ Double-A and Triple-A partners, Greene posted a combined 106-1 life ERA of 3.30 with a 31.7% strikeout rate, a walk rate of 8.9% and a ground ball rate of 43.8%/3 innings. That was a new career high innings for Greene, which is unsurprising given surgery in 2019 and missing a minor league season in 2020. The Reds might still be wary of Greene’s workload — both per start and in terms of the season as a whole — but he will be given an opportunity to boost those innings overall at the big league level.
The news about Greene comes just a day after the Pirates pulled flak for picking top infield prospects Oneil Cruz to the minors to start the season. Situations like these have been a focus for the MLBPA during this offseason’s wage-bargaining wave, as players have been urging the league to incentivize front offices to carry their best prospects for the start of the season rather than for a few weeks into the Keeping minors to secure an extra year of club control. As part of the 2021-26 CBA, teams can earn draft picks if they have top prospects for the start of the season and those players do well in prize voting.
It’s entirely possible that Cincinnati included Greene in the opening day rotation even without these new regulations, since trading is off-season Sonny Grey and injuries too Luis Castillo and mike minor have thinned out the Reds’ options. Regardless, Greene’s upcoming debut gives Reds fans cause for optimism after a frustrating offseason that’s been more focused on cutting payroll than improving the 2022 roster.
If Greene finally plays in the big leagues, he will accumulate a full year of service in 2022 and be well on his way to reaching free agency after the 2027 season, when he would be just 28 years old. As things stand, he would be on track to reach arbitration after the 2024 season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.