Hunter Greene Out For Year With Sprained UCL

Image credit: Hunter Greene (Photo by Dave Arnold)

Another top pitching prospect has gone down with an injury.

The Reds announced Friday that top pitching prospect Hunter Greene will miss the rest of the season with a sprained right ulnar collateral ligament. Greene, the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft, will begin rehab at the Reds’ complex in Goodyear, Ariz. and be evaluated throughout the offseason.

“He threw a bullpen the other day and he didn’t feel right, came out of his bullpen and got shut down by Dr. Kremcheck later on the next day,” Reds general manager Nick Krall told reporters. “He’s shut down for the rest of the season and then we’ll continue to monitor the situation as we move through the offseason.”

Greene, the No. 31 prospect in the latest BA Top 100, was having a bounceback summer before being the injury announcement. He had a 13.97 ERA in his first five starts with low Class A Dayton, but had posted a 2.91 ERA in his last 13 starts.

Krall said the team is hopeful Tommy John surgery can be avoided. 

“Technically, a sprain is a partial tear, but we’ve also had guys who had these—Michael Lorenzen it was non-surgical, Anthony DeSclafani was non-surgical—so hopefully this does work and this can lead to him being ready for next season,” Krall said. 

The 18-year-old Greene is the fifth pitcher on the preseason BA Top 100 to see their pitching seasons interrupted by UCL damage.

Shohei Ohtani (preseason No. 2) suffered a Grade 2 sprain of his UCL in June and has not pitched since, though he has resumed hitting since coming off the disabled list on July 3. Brent Honeywell (No. 14), A.J. Puk (No. 30) and Jay Groome (No. 83) all had Tommy John surgery and have missed the entire 2018 season.

In all, 14 of the 44 pitchers on the BA Preseason Top 100 are currently on the disabled list or unable to pitch.

In addition to the five with UCL damage, righthanders Forrest Whitley (No. 8, oblique), Alex Reyes (No. 17, lat), Sixto Sanchez (No. 25, elbow), Mike Soroka (No. 27, shoulder), Franklin Perez (No. 35, shoulder), Jon Duplantier (No. 73, biceps), Dane Dunning (No. 82, elbow), Nate Pearson (No. 91, broken ulna) and Riley Pint (No. 99, oblique) are all on the DL.

Additionally, lefthander Adrian Morejon (No. 66, flexor) and righthanders Sandy Alcantara (No. 70, underarm) and Albert Abreu (No. 77, shoulder) are currently on rehab assignments.