Reds ace Hunter Greene will bear surgical procedure to take away bone chips from his proper elbow right now, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The group is hoping to have him again sooner or later in July. He’ll be positioned on the 60-day injured record every time Cincinnati must open a spot on the 40-man roster.
The Reds revealed late final week that they’d despatched Greene for a number of waves of imaging and hoped to have additional information early this week. Greene himself stated on the time that he’s navigated bone spurs for a while however had not too long ago acquired a clear MRI on his ulnar collateral ligament. Docs hadn’t really useful surgical procedure for the bone chips till this level. He skilled some ache late final season, and medical doctors really useful an injection on the time. That allowed Greene to have a standard offseason, however he skilled renewed discomfort upon ramping up in camp and can now head underneath the knife.
Greene is way from the one pitcher in MLB to pitch via some recognized bone spurs or free our bodies in his elbow. {Most professional} pitchers have a point of damage and tear of their elbow and/or shoulder, be it bone chips or delicate injury to a ligament, flexor tendon, rotator cuff, labrum, and so on. Reds followers will certainly really feel frustration that the discomfort dates again to final season however is being addressed in 2026. Surgical procedure is a last-resort choice, nonetheless, and hadn’t been really useful till this newest wave of discomfort set in.
Dropping Greene is a gut-punch for a Reds rotation that had regarded like one of many recreation’s strongest, on paper. He was in line to begin Opening Day and be adopted by Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo, Brady Singer and one among Chase Burns or Rhett Lowder, each former top-10 picks within the draft and extremely touted prime prospects. Greene’s damage now opens the door for each Burns and Lowder to make the employees — notably after Chase Petty was optioned yesterday — though left-hander Brandon Williamson stays in camp and may very well be an choice as he returns from a 2025 season misplaced to damage.
A former No. 2 total draft choose, Greene has been one of many recreation’s finest pitchers on a charge foundation over the previous two seasons. Nevertheless, he’s additionally missed appreciable time as a consequence of a pair of groin strains in 2025 and a few elbow discomfort in 2024. He’s began 45 video games throughout relationship again to ’24 and labored to a 2.76 ERA with a 29.2% strikeout charge, 8.1% stroll charge and 33.5% ground-ball charge. Final yr’s 15.4% swinging-strike charge was fourth-best in MLB (min. 100 innings pitched), trailing solely Tarik Skubal, Dylan Stop and Logan Gilbert.
Greene is coming into the fourth season of a six-year, $53MM extension. The 26-year-old is being paid $8MM this season earlier than making $15MM and $16MM in 2027-28. The Reds maintain a $21MM membership choice (with a $2MM buyout) over his 2029 season. With Greene on the shelf to start the yr, Abbott has been named the Reds’ Opening Day starter. President of baseball operations Nick Krall stated final week on the time Greene was being despatched for an MRI that he didn’t envision turning to free company even within the occasion that Greene can be sidelined for a big time period.
