Dragons on Deck: Hunter Greene
Position: Right-handed starting pitcherGreene is currently ranked as the Cincinnati Reds #1 prospect and the 49th best prospect in all of baseball by MLBPipeline.com. He was the second overall selection in the 2017 draft out of Notre Dame High School in suburban Los Angeles.
Position: Right-handed starting pitcher
Greene is currently ranked as the Cincinnati Reds #1 prospect and the 49th best prospect in all of baseball by MLBPipeline.com. He was the second overall selection in the 2017 draft out of Notre Dame High School in suburban Los Angeles.
2019 Season: An elbow injury that required "Tommy John" surgery caused Greene to miss the entire 2019 season. He is expected to return to the mound in 2020.
With the Dragons: Greene spent most of the 2018 season with the Dragons in his first full year of professional baseball. At the young age of 18, he showed huge improvement over the course of the season. He endured a rough start to the year as he competed against older, more experienced players. After his first seven starts on May 18, his earned run average stood at 10.07. However, over his remaining 11 starts, he showed the ability to dominate, posting a 2.63 ERA while limiting opposing batters to a combined batting average of .195 and striking out 63 batters in 51.1 innings while walking just 13. His best start of his young pro career came on July 2, 2018 at Lake County, when he fired seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and no walks with 10 strikeouts. He earned the Reds Co-Pitcher of the Month award in June when he produced a 2.33 ERA. Greene broke the Fifth Third Field record for fastest pitch on July 26 when he fired a fastball clocked at 102 mph. He finished the year with a respectable 4.48 ERA in 18 starts.
Outlook: Greene is expected to return to game competition in 2020. The next step up the ladder would be with the Daytona Tortugas, the Reds affiliate in the Florida State League. Greene posted this short video on Twitter of a workout on October 10: https://twitter.com/HunterGreene17/status/1182371157514735616
Fun Facts: In 2017, Greene became just the 13th high school athlete to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated…Greene was a pitcher/shortstop in high school and won the Junior Home Run Derby at the 2016 Major League All-Star Game in San Diego.