The move isn’t technically official yet, but sources have confirmed that Hunter Greene has been promoted by the Cincinnati Reds from Double-A Chattanooga to Triple-A Louisville. Greene essentially confirmed that he’s leaving Chattanooga this morning, too, tweeting out that he wanted to thank everyone in Chattanooga for a great experience and for taking care of him.
Things couldn’t have gone much better for Hunter Greene in the Double-A South. The 21-year-old made seven starts and posted a 1.98 ERA for the Lookouts. He threw 41.0 innings, allowed just 27 hits, walked 14 batters, and he struck out 60. His ERA was 4th lowest in the league, he was 2nd in innings pitched, led the league in strikeouts, was 5th in WHIP, and 4th in batting average against.
In only one start did he allow more than two earned runs and that came on a 3-run home run with two outs in the 7th inning of a game his team was winning 11-0 at the time. He also struck out 10 batters with just one walk in that outing that he picked up the win in. He was rather consistent with his strikeout totals. Greene struck out seven batters once, eight batters three times, nine batters once, and 10 batters twice. Fun fact: He has not faced a hitter that is younger than he is all season long. Another fun fact: You can watch his last start right here where he struck out nine batters.
The hitters in Double-A didn’t tend to provide Hunter Greene with much of a challenge on a consistent basis. Hitters had a .186/.272/.262 line against him on the year. Righties had a .202/.297/.270 line, while lefties hit .161/.230/.250 against him. Neither group was able to do much of anything as he struck out 37% of the hitters he faced while on the mound for the Lookouts. We don’t know if guys in Triple-A will provide much more to challenge him as they’ve still got to face off against a guy averaging over 100 MPH with his fastball each game and a plus slider in the low-90’s while mixing in a change up. But in theory the guys in Triple-A should be better hitters than the guys in Double-A. That should give the 21-year-old more things that he will need to learn and adjust to as a pitcher.
The Bats will be on the road next week, so unless you plan on driving to Omaha to watch Hunter Greene pitch, you will have to wait until the following week to make an easier trip to Louisville when they host Indianapolis at Louisville Slugger Field.