Did Reds announcer throw shade at Hunter Greene with Andrew Abbott compliment?

Andrew Abbott's fandom is growing. Jeff Brantley was in the television booth with John Sadak on Wednesday and spoke glowingly of the Cincinnati Reds starter. "I like watching Abbott pitch," Brantley said, "And I think the reason that I do is he's always ultra-competitive. And regardless of who the pitcher is on the opposition side, you feel like you have a chance to win. I mean that's the best compliment I can give the guy."

That's high praise indeed from the former Reds reliever. Brantley, affectionately known as The Cowboy, offered a counterpoint to his compliment of Abbott as well. Brantley said, "I don't care about all the strikeout numbers and all those things. That doesn't matter if you're losing."

Brantley finished up his thoughts by saying, "He's (Abbott's) not a guy that's real happy with just throwing four innings and maybe give up one or two runs, and strikeout 10 or 12 batters. He wants to pitch until you win." That sounds like a rather harsh critique of Hunter Greene, does it not?

Did Reds announcer Jeff Brantley throw shade at Hunter Greene with Andrew Abbott compliment?

Brantley's comments came on Wednesday at the outset of the Reds game against the Seattle Mariners, and on the heels of Cincinnati's 3-1 loss on Tuesday night. Greene was the Reds starter on Tuesday and struck out eight batters while allowing just one run. Greene, however, logged just four innings of work before being removed from the game after throwing 98 pitches.

To be fair, Greene acknowledged his inability to go deeper in the game. Following the Reds loss on Tuesday night, Greene said, "I got some swing and miss, but obviously not enough to be effective. But I've got to be better for the bullpen. Those guys are grinding."

This is nothing for Greene. The former first-round pick has heard the critique from Reds fans since his arrival in the big leagues. Greene flashes 100-plus on the radar gun and can rack up strikeouts in bunches. But Greene often gets into far too many three-ball counts, then leaves the game early due to a high pitch-count. He did exactly that on Tuesday, one day prior to Brantley's advocacy for the opposite approach.

Has Andrew Abbott surpassed Hunter Greene in the Reds' pitching hierarchy?

Abbott, however, pitches to contact. The lefty went six innings on Wednesday in Seattle and allowed two runs on four hits while striking out six batters. Abbott threw a total of 104 pitches before he was lifted in favor of reliever Lucas Sims.

The criticism of Greene's inefficient outings appears to be growing louder this season, and it's even reached the Reds' broadcast booth. The Reds inked Greene to a massive contract extension last spring and, to date, the flamethrower has not lived up to the hype. Greene has moments of brilliance, but has failed to achieve consistent success at the major league level.

In this his third year in the big leagues, Reds fans are hoping that it finally clicks. The Cincinnati faithful are growing impatient, and it would seem that you can add Brantley to the list of Greene's critics.

More Reds News from Blog Red Machine