Cincinnati Reds Awards: Hunter Greene Makes It Clear That He's an Ace

The Reds ace for now and the future is Hunter Greene

Sep 22, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene (21) walks off the field in the second inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

The Cincinnati Reds were led by three players in 2024. Incidentally they were the team’s most valuable position player, most valuable pitcher, and most improved player. Let’s hone in on the most valuable pitcher: Hunter Greene.

It finally happened for Greene in 2024 as he turned into the ace we all knew he could be. 

Before he hit the injured list, Greene made 24 starts and had the third-lowest ERA in the National League at 2.83. What’s even more impressive is that he sported the fifth-lowest home run per nine innings ratio during that time at 0.69.

His rookie season he had a HR/9 ratio of 1.72 and in 2023 it was at 1.53, so this was a huge development in his game. Part of that was a big lucky home run to fly ball rate of 6.9%, but he was just much better at limiting hard contact.

In 2023, the average exit velocity on balls hit against Greene was 90.1. This past year it was 87.3. A big reason for that is his hard-hit rate disappeared. Baseball Savant defines a hard hit ball as a ball hit 95 MPH or faster. In 2023, Greene allowed 44% hard hit balls. That number shrank to 32.5% in 2024.

Much of this was done without adding a bonafide third pitch. While he began throwing a splitter in 2024, he only threw it 8% of the time. His 4-seamer and slider combo made up 90% of his pitches for the year. He accomplished this jump in production by simply honing in the command of those two pitches.

Greene should be the Opening Day starter and the ace of the Reds for years to come.

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