The Cincinnati Reds sent two of their best prospects to represent them at the 2018 Major League Baseball Futures Game on Sunday afternoon. It’s Hunter Greene that is known more for his power than Taylor Trammell is, simply because Hunter Greene may be the hardest throwing starting pitcher in all of professional baseball.
And it was that power velocity that showed up for Hunter Greene Sunday afternoon. He entered the game with 1 out in the 3rd inning. He would give up a solo home run during the outing, on a day when the baseball was leaving the ballpark at an incredible rate. But, Greene also threw 19 pitches at 100 MPH or higher. He topped out with an asinine 103.1 MPH fastball, and eight pitches that registered at 102. No other pitcher in the game actually reached triple-digits – though some got the “round up” to get there. Hunter Greene threw all 19 of the hardest pitches of the game, with the slowest among them being exactly 100.0 MPH.
Taylor Trammell didn’t want to let Hunter Greene have all of the Reds glory in the game, though. The outfielder came in as a reserve outfielder, and in his first at-bat he went to a 2-2 count before hitting a baseball to West Virginia. Ok, it probably didn’t go to West Virginia, but it was close. Trammell hit the ball at 108 MPH and it went 438 feet to center field. His next at-bat was almost the same result. He tripled on a ball hit at 107.3 MPH that went an estimated 414 feet according to Trackman data from the ballpark. Trammell had the furthest hit of the game with his home run. His triple was also the 3rd longest of the game.
That performance, 2-2 with a triple, home run, and two runs scored, led to Taylor Trammell earning the MVP Award of the game with Team USA winning 10-6 on Sunday afternoon. The outfielder is the first Cincinnati Reds player to win the award at the game.