Last night saw Cincinnati Reds ace Hunter Greene exit his start prior to the 4th inning after he strained his groin while warming up just prior to the start of the inning. He walked off of the mound on his own without any noticeable issue. Following the game there was a tiny bit of hope that the injury wasn’t bad based on everything that the club knew at the time, but Greene was still scheduled to get an MRI this afternoon.
This article has been updated with new information (4:45pm ET)
The results came back and it’s a grade 1 groin strain. That seems like good news, but not all of the news was great. It was initially reported by multiple beat writers that Hunter Greene was going to avoid being placed on the injured list “for now”. But 30 minutes later they were able to speak with manager Terry Francona and he told them that Greene will head to the 15-day injured list, but that there would not be a roster move today. This was first reported by Charlie Goldsmith of the Dayton Daily News.
Prior to the injury, Greene had been dominant. He had allowed just two hits and no runs in 3.0 innings that also saw him strike out six batters. Cincinnati’s ace was out to a strong season, picking up where he had left off in 2024 when he took a big step forward. After posting a 2.75 ERA in 26 starts last season for the Reds, Greene had a 2.36 ERA after his exit in last night’s outing in Atlanta. Since the start of the 2024 season, Baseball Reference has Greene at 8.0 WAR in his 196.0 innings pitched over 34 starts.
How the Reds want to handle the situation with the rotation, and bullpen is unknown. The off day on Monday would allow them to skip Greene’s spot in the rotation and keep everyone else on a 5-day scheduled. If they go that route then they could bring in an additional arm for the bullpen until May 18th when they would need a 5th starter.
They could also opt to bring up a reliever until Tuesday and then call up a starting pitcher to fill the spot in the rotation and buy an extra day of rest for the remainder of the starters.
By moving Greene to the 15-day injured list which would mean the earliest he could return is May 24th. That’s a Saturday afternoon game against the Chicago Cubs at home.
Tentatively good news for the Reds – that’s a nice change
As good as we coulda hoped for. The difference between a grab and pop.
Good to read this update…The scenario of moving Greene to the IL to heal correctly and calling up a reliever until the 18th when it would be necessary a fifth starter is not so bad. The Reds could take advantage of having another arm available but the intriguing thing is who would be that arm… Zulueta? Díaz? to name guys on the 40-man roster or could be selecting the contract of Maxwell? Phillips & Lowder are in rehab stint right now…
The comments above this one were posted prior to the update being given that Greene actually IS heading to the injured list after initial reports being that he wasn’t.
With an off day on the 12th, the Reds can keep the other starters on regular rest and they wouldn’t need another starter until the 17th. Petty can make another start for Louisville and Lowder will make his rehab start for Dayton on Sunday. One of these two can be the starter on the 17th, most likely Petty. Phillips has made 2 relief appearances for Dayton and will not be stretched out enough to make the start.
I hope 2 weeks off is enough time to heal.
Groin strains can be tricky. You rest for a few weeks and think you’re healed and feel fine. Then you push it a little too hard and *POP*, you’re back to square one.
Definitely a bummer, but it could have been worse.
Nuts.
Pun intended?
I am going to with the logic that he is not pitching until June. Unless they start to win games in bunches or the Cubs cool down we may be big time sellers at the deadline.
Sellers for what though? So this rotating door of “prospects” keeps turning? Have they really gotten anything from selling the team a couple of years ago? At some point id like to see them dig in and really try to put some talent around HG and EDC before they are wearing Dodger blue. Instead they build a cheap team of streaky hitters who score 30 runs in 3 games then don’t score for 2 or 3 games.
You get what you pay for.
I don’t think this group is elite enough to compete against the Dodgers in the next 2 years. I agree they need real players and more prospects are not going to solve the problem. However why keep guys that are in the last year of their contract?