When MLBbro Hunter Greene Gets A Squad To Back Him Up In Cincy, He’s Black Ace Bound

Hunter Greene was all gas no breaks on the mound Saturday as he threw the second most pitches over 100 MPH in Major League history and tied a career-high in strikeouts in the Reds walk-off win over Tampa Bay.

Cincinnati Reds rookie phenom Hunter Greene brought the gas to his start Saturday as he threw 38 of his 114 pitches over 100 MPH which is good for the second most ever record in the Statcast era.  

He collected a career-high in swings and misses as he went six innings allowing just three hits, four walks and one earned run to go along with nine punch-outs which ties the most he had since May 15 when he sat down nine Pirates.

Out of those nine K’s six came on pitches that were over 100 MPH which are the most recorded in a single game in MLB history according to pitch-tracking data that has been around since 2008.

The second overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft has seen a lot in during his short tenure with on the Reds Major League roster from the light show he put in his hometown of Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium in his second career start to throwing a no-hitter and still taking the loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the same game he registered the first nine strikeout performance of his career.

Greene’s record now stands at 3-10 this season with a 5.07 ERA and 107 strikeouts, but those numbers are not how he is judging the success of his first season in the Majors, but rather the process of becoming an ace on a Cincinnati team that has been searching for one since the days of the “Big Red Machine.”

In 13 of his 17 starts this season Greene has collected at least six strikeouts and after Saturday he ranks fifth in the National League for total strikeouts.

Greene is living up to his hype as one of the most coveted prospects to arrive in the Majors in the last 10 years.  The 349 batters he faced before getting his 100th strikeout are the fourth lowest amount it has taken to reach that milestone in Reds history.

He was drafted as a two-way player, but after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2019 he became a full-time pitcher.  

Greene had a few great starts during the month of June but in the four previous before Saturday he struggled to the tune of a 9.45 ERA in 18.1 innings and only got to that six-strikeout total once over that span.

He is scheduled to start one more game before the All-Star Break which will be Friday night in St. Louis vs the Cardinals who he faced earlier this season.  That game he went only 3.1 innings allowing three earned runs and walking four hitters so this will be a great test of the growth he has gone through as the season’s first half comes to an end.