Photo: Redleg Nation Staff
This afternoon the Cincinnati Reds made it official and sent right-handed pitcher Hunter Greene on a rehab assignment where he joined the rookie-level Arizona Complex League Reds. Greene is coming back from elbow surgery after having bone spurs removed during March while in spring training.
After working his way back to the mound and going through the rehab process on Thursday night Hunter Greene took the mound in a game for the first time this season. Facing players much younger than he is, Greene dominated the Arizona Complex League Cubs. Working for 4.0 innings, Greene gave up two singles, no runs, walked one, and he struck out six batters. The Reds righty threw 54 pitches in his outing with 39 of them being for strikes.
His first pitch of the night was 99.4 MPH. His final pitch was 98.5 MPH. In between there he pounded the zone, topping out at 101.1 MPH with his fastball and mixing in both his slider and his splitter. His 25 fastballs averaged 99.1 MPH, while he threw 20 of them for strikes. The slider was thrown for strikes on 15 of the 18 he used on the night. Greene also threw 11 splitters and four of them were strikes.
Generally speaking, pitchers on rehab assignments add one inning each time out. That usually means an additional 15-20 pitches on top of their previous game. For Greene, you would think that he won’t get back to the big leagues until he’s ready to throw at least 85+ pitches. Given his 54 pitches over four innings, Greene likely has two or three more starts on a rehab assignment.
If the team keeps Hunter Greene pitching every 5th day moving forward with his rehab he would take the mound again on Tuesday. The game after that would be on Sunday, June 28th. After that it would be Friday July 3rd.
The initial timeline for Greene to return was 14-16 weeks. The 16-week mark would be right around that Friday July 3rd time. It certainly looks like it’s possible that he could hit that target, and if nothing else – assuming things go as planned and there are no setbacks, Greene could get back in the big leagues just before the All-Star break.
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