Hunter Greene’s first half of his season came to a close on Friday, as he took a loss decision in the Cincinnati Reds’ 7-3 road defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Greene had a roller-coaster showing in the contest, as he allowed four earned runs over 5.0 innings pitched. Reds manager David Bell allowed for the rookie starting pitcher to reach 100-plus pitches thrown for the fifth time in his season, but he did not grant him the opportunity to take the mound for the sixth inning.
Greene enters the All-Star break with a 5.78 ERA in 90.1 innings pitched. He has shown signs of being a reliable starter for Cincinnati, as has been on display with his 87.8 mph slider that opponents have hit .172 off of. Still, he has had his fair share of difficulties in limiting the damage during innings; opposing hitters have logged a .266 batting average with runners in scoring position against him.
In the big picture, Greene has much confidence that he can emerge as one of the top pitchers in the majors.
“I have the utmost confidence in myself that I can be one of the best pitchers in this game,” Greene said on Friday. “It’s going to take time. I understand that. In the past, I’ve been able to make adjustments pretty quickly and have success right away. This is the highest level, so it might take a little bit more time than the past for me. I understand that.
“My biggest thing is being able to just continue to chip away for the second half and be able to look back at the end of this season and be proud of myself and the strides I was able to make.”
All eyes sure will be on whether Greene can enjoy keen success from his fastball in the second half of the campaign. While he sports a 98.8 mph four-seam fastball, opposing hitters have posted a .291 batting average to go along with 16 home runs recorded off of the pitch.
Overall, the rookie right-handed pitcher does currently lead all Reds starting pitchers in multiple stats so far this season, including in strikeouts per nine innings (11.3).
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