Hunter Greene Stopped Being Cute and Is Producing Filthy Stuff On The Hill

 

Hunter Greene had a dominating performance on April 27 as he picked up his first win of the season against the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers. 

 

 

The Cincinnati Reds put up eight runs against the Rangers and Greene put together his best performance of the season so far. This was Greene’s second consecutive start where he went seven innings. He finished the game with six strikeouts and gave up only one hit. 

 

 

Hunter Greene Is Unhittable When Dialed In 

 

He retired the first nine batters he faced and did not give up his lone hit until the fourth inning. It was a complete turnaround from his outing against the Philadelphia Phillies, where he gave up four runs on seven hits.

 

Greene wanted to make sure he wasn’t doing too much out there on the mound. 

 

“Watching myself and my outings, a lot of times I’m beating myself and not trusting myself on attacking the zone,” Greene said in an mlb.com article after the game. “You gotta get the first dude before the second dude.”

 

When Greene is dialed in out there like he was against Texas, he is pretty much unhittable. 

 

There’s no secret that he’s one of the hardest throwers in the game. His 86.6 average fastball velocity is the highest among starters in MLB since 2022.  and when he can spot that fastball, it is difficult for hitters to have success against him. 

 

“In some ways that fastball is like multiple pitches if you can locate it in different areas of the zone,” Reds’ manager David Bell said.

 

“He’s making improvements — today he did it with fastball command,” Bell said. “He threw a lot of fastballs — he kept them honest with the slider — but really, he was on the attack the whole day and so he was able to accomplish both going deep into the game and limiting runs. It was a great start.”

 

This was the start Greene needed. He has a 1-2 record on the season with a 3.63 ERA and 42 strikeouts. The 24-year-old will look to improve on his record from last season where he only won four games in 22 starts.

 

If he can continue to put together outings like the one against the Rangers, there’s no question he will improve his wins from the previous season if his offense continues to back him up. 

 

“Even when things don’t go well, he’s handling it just right,” Bell told The Enquirer. “He’s working on the right things. 

 

“And if he continues to do that we’re going to see his talent take over, and he’s going to be able to string consistent starts together.”

 

One thing to remember about Greene is that he’s still really young and will continue to make improvements each year.

 

 

 

This is his third season in the big leagues, and he understands that if he can continue to stay healthy, that means he’ll appear in more games and get that much needed experience on the mound.

 

Greene can go on to have a productive career during his time in Cincinnati and he has the potential to become one of the best pitchers in the league.