Cincinnati Reds News: Hunter Greene shut down for the season

The Cincinnati Reds have now lost their top two prospects for the remainder of the season to injury. Hunter Greene became the latest casualty on Friday with an elbow injury.

The Cincinnati Reds did not play on Friday night against the Washington Nationals. The game was postponed due to inclement weather and the two teams will play a day/ night doubleheader on Saturday. However, that wasn’t the only bit of bad news the club suffered on Friday.

Greene out with sprained elbow. The Reds shut down their flamethrowing right-hander and last year’s first-round pick Hunter Greene for the remainder of the season with a sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament. According to Reds’ GM Nick Krall, Greene will not have Tommy John surgery at this time.

Greene will head to the Reds’ spring training facility in Arizona to rehab the injury. Michael Lorenzen and Anthony DeSclafani suffered the same injury and were able to avoid surgery. The Reds are hoping the same is true of their No. 2 prospect Greene.

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Greene is rated the No. 18 overall by MLB Pipeline, and the No. 6 overall right-handed pitching prospect. At Advanced-A Dayton this season, Greene was 3-7 with a 4.48 ERA in 18 starts for the Dragons. Greene has not even turned 19-years-old, so hopefully, his right arm will heal quickly and we’ll see him back on the mound in 2019.

Mahle down, Reyes up. The Cincinnati Reds made their decision on Friday regarding the six-man rotation. It’s done. Tyler Mahle was optioned to Triple-A Louisville and the Reds recalled Jesus Reyes. Mahle will work on straightening out his mechanics and hopefully get back to the pitcher he was during the early part of the summer.

Reyes only played in 4 games with the Louisville Bats this season, but his 1.35 ERA in those 4 games is pretty solid. Reyes will add another arm to a bullpen that has been taxed in recent weeks with the implementation of the six-man starting rotation.

Stephenson dealing in Triple-A. Jesus Reyes was just called up to the big leagues. One of his Louisville teammates might soon join him. Robert Stephenson pitched a gem on Friday night for the Reds triple-A affiliate.

Stephenson went 6 innings, gave up just 1 hit and stuck out a career-high 13 batters in the Bats 4-0 win on the road last night. The win was Stephenson’s 11th on the season, and he’s now lowered his ERA to 2.87.

Over his last 10 starts, Stephenson is 7-2 with a 2.28 ERA. He’s been able to curb his strikeout-to-walk ratio, something that’s plagued him throughout his career. Over those 10 games, he’s struck out 73 batters and walked only 26.