Latest pitcher power rankings grossly undervalue Reds’ starter Hunter Greene

Cincinnati Reds starter Hunter Greene, despite having just landed on the 15-day IL with elbow soreness, is enjoying a breakout season in 2024 and finds himself amongst the best pitchers in the majors. The 25-year-old right-hander is 9-4 with a sparkling 2.83 ERA over 24 starts this year. He has 162 strikeouts in 143.1 innings and a 5.4 bWAR. Despite those numbers, Greene isn’t garnering much attention in the NL Cy Young race and is undervalued in MLB’s latest pitcher power rankings.

The Reds’ ace finds himself ranked No. 7, rising only two spots from No. 9 in the last iteration despite being in the midst of an incredible stretch. Over his last eight starts, Greene is 4-1 with a 1.06 ERA and 59 strikeouts over 50.2 innings pitched. His ERA has lowered from 3.79 on June 25th to 2.83 at present.

Chris Sale, Blake Snell, Paul Skenes, and Dylan Cease are all National League pitchers ranked ahead of him in the power rankings and Cy Young conversation. None are near Hunter Greene’s 5.4 bWAR. In fact, only Detroit’s Tarik Skubal has a higher bWAR than the Cincinnati righty. Cease and Skenes each feature bWAR under 4.0 while Snell’s is a paltry 0.9 on the year.

Latest pitcher power rankings grossly undervalue Reds’ starter Hunter Greene

Snell went from unranked to No. 3 in this edition of the power rankings because of an excellent seven-start stretch where he had a 0.99 ERA and 60 strikeouts over 45.1 innings pitched. But before that he had a 9.51 ERA in six starts and two IL stints. Yet he jumps into the top three with a comparable current stretch of dominance to Greene, who sits four spots back.

Before June 30th, Greene wasn’t having a bad season. He was 5-4 with a 3.70 ERA and days away from being named an NL All-Star. And while the MLB power rankings will highlight his league-leading 53 walks and 19 hit batsman, he’s arguably been the best pitcher in baseball over the last month and a half.

Seven of his last eight starts have been quality starts and he’s pitched seven innings or more four times. Twice he has reached double digit strikeouts and he’s given up just five extra base hits in those starts. Batters are hitting just .185 off him on the season.

It’s clear that Greene’s value and success isn’t getting the respect and credit it deserves. The Los Angeles native has approximately eight more starts this season and if he continues to dominate, his numbers will be harder to ignore.

The Reds are still in the NL Wild Card conversation. A dominant Greene performance as the season winds down could have been enough to sneak into the playoffs and win the Reds’ ace a surprising NL Cy Young Award. But his recent trip to the injured list likely torpedoes any chance of that happening.

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