Reds now know Hunter Greene needs surgery but one big question remains

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene is done for the season. Reds' president of baseball operations Nick Krall relayed the information on Friday stating that Greene has a partial tear of the ligament in his right elbow and will have surgery sometime next week.

While it's clear that Greene's 2026 season is over, what's unclear is the timeline for his return. According to RedsTV broadcaster Brian Giesenschlag, the team won't know the extent of the injury until the surgery is performed.

Once word of Greene's injury hit the news wire earlier this week, most Reds fans probably expected he'd miss the remainder of the 2026 season. Second opinions aren't usually necessary unless the results of the initial imaging is inconclusive, and Greene flew out to Los Angeles to have Dr. Neal ElAttrache further examine the injury.

Greene has already undergone elbow surgery once this year. The right-hander had arthroscopic surgery back in March to have loose bodies removed from his elbow. He missed about three months before returning to the big-league ball club back in July. It sounds like the recovery from this impending surgery might be a bit longer, and depending on the severity of it, Tommy John or an internal brace procedure might be necessary.

Hunter Greene's tenure with the Reds has been littered with injuries

This is just the latest in a long line of injuries for Greene. The former first-round pick has averaged less than 20 starts per season and has onnly crossed 150 innings pitched once. That's a far cry from the type of pitcher the Reds inked to a six-year contract extension back in 2023.

There's no way to accurately predict these types of injuries, but when Greene and Nick Lodolo broke into the league back in 2022, both were assumed to be key pieces for the future of the Reds' rotation. Instead, both have become injury-plagued starters with each of them seeing extended time on the IL through the first five years of their Major League careers.

Even without Greene, the Reds have been one of the hottest teams in the league since the All-Star break, and are now just four games back of the final NL Wild Card spot. Cincinnati might be forced to offset Greene's loss with a late-season pickup — former Reds' starter Zack Littell just became available.

The Reds will send Chase Petty to the mound on Friday as the opener against the Washington Nationals. Nick Lodolo is expected to return to the team next Tuesday in Chicago.

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