Hunter Greene's 1st-half has been punctuated by high velocity and home runs

When Hunter Greene arrived in the big leagues this past April, there was a lot of fanfare and legitimate excitement about his arrival as a promising flamethrower in the Cincinnati Reds starting rotation.

In fact, the overall feeling towards Greene was 'Welcome to the Big Leagues." Unfortunately for Greene, that same "Welcome to the Big Leagues" mantra also rang true among batters who've faced him so far this season.

Hunter Greene still looks to be the real deal but his development is going to take time - time that the Reds organization and its fans need to allocate to this young hurler. Greene can throw and throw hard.

Reds RHP has had his up and downs during his rookie year.

In his second outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Greene set a record for firing 39 cannon shots over 100 mph out of a total of 80 pitches in that game. Despite taking the loss against the Dodgers, Greene established his presence in the major leagues as one of the hardest throwing pitchers to ever grace a big league mound.

Fast-forward to May 15th when Greene threw for 7.1 innings of brilliant, hitless work against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and yet the Cincinnati Reds still found a way to drop this game.

Greene, however, solidified his role in the Reds rotation and showed baseball that he wasn't just a fastball hurler but started utilizing his sliders to near-perfection in that game. In early June, Greene picked up a win in a rain-shortened game where he threw a one hitter in the required seven innings while facing exactly 21 batters.

Home runs have plagued Hunter Greene in his 1st season with the Reds.

The biggest issue facing Hunter Greene now is the fact that he has given up 23 homers before the All-Star break, which is now a record for rookie pitchers before the Midsummer Classic. With a combined 3-11 record, exactly one complete game, an ERA of 5.78 and WHIP of 1.35, Greene has struggled so far this season to put his talent into full action as a starting pitcher.

Yes, he's fanned 113 batters so far this season compared to 40 walks but 82 hits and 23 dingers in 90.1 total innings pitched means that opposing teams have taken Greene's fastball apart and made it a modified form of batting practice at times.

With all of the expectations placed on highly-touted rookies and especially with the laser beam arm of Hunter Greene, both the Reds front office and Reds fans alike tend to put a lot of pressure on the backs of young ballplayers like Greene.

Given time and more experience, along with a better pitch selection repertoire, Greene looks to be a promising starting pitcher going into the 2023 season and should be a solid, long-term investment for the Cincinnati Reds.