Hunter Greene

[GAC]

It was good to see him start vs the Angels after the long road back from TJ surgery. It's been two years. I'm sure he was very excited. And everyone was talking about how he was hitting 100+, his velocity looked good. I'll just say it a good first sign. positive step, and leave it there. He also gave up 3 Hrs. But again, don't make much out of anything at this stage.

I don't see him as part of the plan in '21... hasn't pitched in two years, and no higher then A-Ball. He's still very much the future. But when he does arrive - where in this rotation? I'm taking into consideration how pitching has evolved, pitchers are handled, through the lenses of analytics. The talent he possesses in that arm could make him a "hammer" IMO. Where then do you place that hammer? Is Hunter best suited for that front of the rotation that gets you thru the 5th inning? .... a middle innings arm that basically shuts you down, throws everything at you for a couple innings, to then hand it over to the Closer? .... or do some see him in that Closer role?

I see him more as a front of the rotation arm, but a role he may have to work himself into at this stage. I think right now he has to get the innings in, develop his pitches, and show consistency at the upper farm level, before anything else.

[JaxRed]

He gave up 1 homer.

He should be a starter. Period.

[RedsBaron]

Rotation if possible. Get as many innings as you can out of your best pitchers.

[scotly50]

Start Greene every 5 days from this day forward.

[MoneyInTheBank]

I think his post-game interview was even more impressive. Composed, unimpressed with his velocity. Definitely doesn't carry himself like a 21 year old.

https://www.mlb.com/reds/news/hunter...n-spring-debut

[JFLegal]

i have a feeling reds fans will be debating "starter or closer?" for hunter greene over the next couple of years. didn't basically the same thing happen with chapman, until everyone finally gave up and realized he was just going to be a closer? i think we're headed down that road again.

the difference might be that greene wants to be a starter (at least i think he does) while chapman seemed more than content with being a closer.

obviously, imo, the plan should be to use him as a starter until it's proven that's not a good role for him. closer should be the backup plan, not plan A.

for this year, send him to dayton at high-A and if he does well after a couple months, promote him to AA chattanooga. then see where he's at at the end of 2021. he could be a factor in the reds' plans by 2022, imo.

[dfs]

i have a feeling reds fans will be debating "starter or closer?" for hunter greene over the next couple of years. didn't basically the same thing happen with chapman, until everyone finally gave up and realized he was just going to be a closer?

Ryan Madson says hi.

Chapman was going to be a starter. The reds paid a free agent closer to replace Cordero and the new guy came up lame. They had a contending team with a surplus of starting pitching and no closer and Chapman's role changed. It was a need based decision.

Turning Hunter Greene into a closer for this team would be a really, really, really stupid thing to do. So, I pretty much expect that's exactly what this franchise will do.

[PuffyPig]

i think we're headed down that road again.

Based on what?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[KronoRed]

Start him until he shows he can't do it.

[Powel Crosley]

He needs to start all of this season and even next season before I'd consider making him a reliever. I don't want another top prospect pushed into that role unless it's 2022 and he's still struggling to make it five innings.

[Kc61]

I’m confident Reds will want Greene to start. This year is really just about getting him pitching in competition again. I’m sure they will be cautious about his innings, maybe some 2-3 innings starts initially, and build him up. Not sure what his overall innings limit would be, but probably not very high.

A decent goal for him in the bigs might be later in the 2022 season, but he’s still young, won’t turn 22 until August. It’ll be good to follow him in games this year, but probably wise to stay patient.

[Bourgeois Zee]

I'm just tickled that he showed that monster velocity from pre-Tommy John. He threw a few decent breaking balls as well.

I was hoping to see a better change up and improved control, but those will come along later in Spring Training for some.

Not ideal for his confidence (or prospect hype), but a 2021 debut with some positives, at any rate.

Greene is the type of prospect who'll look better than his numbers will show. (Aroldis Chapman's minor league numbers, for example, show little semblance to the dominant pitcher he became with the parent club.) Like Chapman, I suspect, he'll put up pedestrian numbers until he won't-- he'll suddenly "get it" and dominate. (We saw a bit of that before he first injured his arm in 2018.)

I'm fine with Greene in AA or AAA, but AA is as low as I'd stash him. Below AA, he can just air it out, throw the ball as he did in high school, never learn anything, and still get by. Hitters that have moved on to AA have begun to put together complete ABs. Let him face that from this point forward to see how he does. It's not like his stuff is lacking.

[WrongVerb]

Seemed fine to me. Stuff was there, even if the command was a bit behind that. I suspect he'll be at AAA by the end of the year.

[membengal]

Holy over-reaction.

He's a starter. He will be a starter. It was nice to see him actually take the mound after all this time. He looked great.

[klw]

Holy over-reaction.

As this is a baseball site shouldn't the above say "Holy over-reaction Bartman"