Reds news: Hunter Greene added to 60-man player pool

Reds prospect Hunter Greene has been rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

In an expected, yet somewhat interesting development, the Cincinnati Reds have No. 2 prospect Hunter Greene to the team’s 60-man player pool. Greene has been sidelined since 2018 with a sprained UCL that later required Tommy John surgery. Catching prospect Mark Kolozsvary also joined the player pool.

I wouldn’t take this as a sign that the Reds are looking to bring Greene to the big leagues this season. The 20-year-old hasn’t pitching professionally since injuring his right elbow on July 26, 2018 and has yet to play above Single-A.

Greene was taken with the No. 2 overall selection in the 2017. A two-way player at his high school in California, Greene’s 100-plus MPH fastball is what caught the eye of scouts. Greene’s fastball has been recorded as high as 103-MPH.

Currently ranked No. 2 in the Cincinnati Reds farm system according to MLB Pipeline, Hunter Greene has just 21 games of professional experience, playing three games for the Billings Mustangs at the age of 17 and 18 games at Single-A Dayton in 2018. Collectively, Greene’s ERA is 4.95.

After a rocky start (0-3) with the Dayton Dragons in 2018 that never saw him go past four innings through his first eight starts, Hunter Greene won his first game on June 3, 2018, going five innings of work and striking out eight batters.

Greene’s best career start came on July 2nd that year against the Lake County Captians. The right-hander went seven innings, allowed just two hits and struck out 10. Greene threw a career-high 83 pitches in the game. Unfortunately, Greene was shut down less than a month later.

Will Hunter Greene be counted upon to be part of this year’s Cincinnati Reds team? It seems highly unlikely, but Reds skipper David Bell didn’t rule it out. Here’s what Bell had to say to the media via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com:

“That definitely would be second on the list of reasons to have him here. Obviously, we know who he is and with his talents and his injury that he’s gone through. To create a development environment for him to start pitching, competing and all of that is the primary concern — whether it’s for this year or next year or whatever his timetable is. We just want to provide that for him.”

It certainly sounds as the those the Reds primary objective in bringing Hunter Greene to Prasco Park is development. However, if Greene is popping the mitt of his battery mate at 100-plus MPH and the Reds need a strong arm in the back of the bullpen, I wouldn’t rule out Greene receiving a call-up to the major leagues.

Hunter Greene has the potential to be one of the most exciting players we’ve seen in a Cincinnati Reds uniform since Jay Bruce debuted in 2008, and the best pitcher Reds Country has seen since Johnny Cueto. Greene, along with fellow prospect Nick Lodolo are being counted on heavily to help Cincinnati’s starting rotation in the near future.