It was a long time coming for Hunter Greene to get back on the mound in games that counted. He would have returned at some point in the summer of 2020 as he returned from Tommy John surgery, but a cancelled season led to a delay of his return until May 5th – 1014 days after his last start in a game.
While Greene certainly would have liked the game to have come sooner, those watching must have felt it was worth the wait as the then 21-year-old righty struck out eight batters without a walk and gave up just one run over 5.0 innings at home against Rocket City. That was just a taste of what Greene was going to do to the Double-A South. His next two starts came against Montgomery and he allowed two runs over 11.0 innings with three walks and 17 strikeouts.
The next four starts would also be the final four starts for Hunter Greene at the Double-A level. He would throw 25.0 innings and allowed just six earned runs (2.16 ERA) while walking 11 batters and picking up 35 strikeouts. After throwing 6.0 shutout innings against Pensacola on June 11th, Cincinnati promoted Greene up to Triple-A Louisville.
The first start at the top level in the minors did not go the way that Greene would have liked as he allowed four home runs on a windy night in Omaha. He would rebound at home in Louisville against Indianapolis the next time out, throwing 5.0 shutout innings with six strikeouts. Things, however, didn’t go well in back-to-back starts against Nashville where he allowed eight earned runs in 8.1 innings that included six walks.
Over the next month, though, Greene put things together as he allowed just six earned runs over five starts and 27.1 innings – including a 1-hit, 6.1 inning performance against St. Paul that included 10 strikeouts. But his next start was skipped over before he returned against Gwinnett and after giving up just two home runs in the 40.2 innings over his previous eight starts, the Stripers homered three times in just 2.2 innings against Greene.
Following the start against Gwinnett, Greene came back with two strong starts against Indianapolis and Nashville where he allowed just one earned run between the two games. Indianapolis would get a little revenge against Greene the next time, though, scoring six runs on eight hits and a walk in 4.0 innings on September 7th. The final start of the season for Greene came five days later, also against Indianapolis who was seeing him for the third time in three weeks. Greene gave up just one earned run in 4.0 innings and picked up three strikeouts in the game to complete his season.
For all 2021 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
Hunter Greene Scouting Report
Position: Right-handed pitcher | B/T: R/R
Height: 6′ 5″ | Weight: 230 lbs | Drafted: 1st Round, 2017
Born: August 6, 1999
Fastball | A plus pitch that has better velocity than any fastball in professional baseball. It routinely would work 100+ and he reportedly touched 105 this year.
Change Up | A pitch that is mostly shows up against lefties, it did show improvement in 2021. An average offering that works in the upper 80’s.
Slider | A plus offering that is much harder than it used to be. Prior to 2021 he threw a slider in the low-80’s, but now the pitch works in the 87-90 MPH range.
Cutter | Added in 2020 when he was pitching at the alternate site, the pitch works in the 89-92 MPH range.
When Hunter Greene is on top of his game he’s nearly unhittable. He’ll bring two average offerings to the table and two plus to plus-plus offerings to the table. And he can do it while throwing all of his pitches for strikes.
In 2021 he battled some inconsistency at the Triple-A level. The more advanced hitters were able to take advantage of some mistakes that guys in Double-A couldn’t. Still, despite being the youngest player in both leagues he was in almost the entire year, he dominated at times. With missing time due to Tommy John surgery, and then missing the 2020 season – though he did pitch at the alternate site – in terms of time on the mound, he’s still behind so many pitchers his age in terms of experience. The learning curve he’s shown despite that has been impressive.
The change up is a pitch he will need to continue to improve and likely mix in a little bit more often as he continues his progress up the ladder. The control is ahead of the command at this point in his career, but both the control and command should improve in time – and his control is already at a good spot.
Interesting Stat on Hunter Greene
Greene allowed just three hits all season to hitters that were younger than he was. All three hits were singles. Of course, he only had 13 plate appearances all year against players who were younger than he was.
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