CINCINNATI – The Reds may not have to wait much longer to have starting pitcher Hunter Greene pitching for them. It appears that one more rehab assignment start will be enough.
Greene was feeling good after Wednesday, the day after he threw four scoreless innings for Triple-A Louisville.
“I feel like my recovery went well," Greene said. "Still light tightness, but it’s normal with the buildup. That’s obviously something I’ve been able to learn about myself and just being a pitcher. It’s a lot on the body. You’re not going to feel like sunshine and rainbows. Normal progression with building up and little feelings of tightness here and there but nothing that’s going to hold me back or anything concerning.”
Greene, 26, threw 64 pitches (36 strikes) vs. St. Paul and allowed two hits and one walk with three strikeouts. His fastball averaged 98.4 mph and topped at 99.5 mph while he also threw his slider and splitter.
“I felt great. I didn’t feel tired," said Greene, who underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow in March. "My body felt in a really good place, endurance-wise. Pitches all felt great yesterday and most importantly, my mentality was right.”
In his first rehab start for the ACL Reds, on June 18, Greene struck out six across four scoreless frames while throwing 54 pitches.
Up next is a third – and perhaps final – rehab start for Louisville on Sunday.
“We’ll try to push to maybe 80-85 [pitches] and then see where that goes. We want to make sure he’s ready to pitch," manager Terry Francona said. "I think we’re on the same page, because if he needs another one [after Sunday], we would be kind of silly to go, ‘No you can’t.’"
As the Reds have struggled for much of the past two months, they will need Greene to be at the top of his game to improve any chance to remain in the chase for a postseason spot.
“It’s a great opportunity," Greene said. "I’ve got to be ready to go, and I will be. Obviously, there’s a lot of factors and I can only control so much on my performance. But I’ve been able to check the boxes that I need to make sure I’m at my best.”
Last season, Greene was limited to 19 starts and 107 2/3 innings after missing nearly three months on the injured list with a Grade 1 strain of his right groin. After returning on Aug. 13, six of his final eight games were quality starts.
“I’m looking at what I did last year. I came in and pretty much dominated the whole entire stretch in the second half," said Greene, who was 7-4 with a 2.76 ERA overall in 2025. "That’s my intention coming back here again. I want to be able to go deep into games. Obviously, our team has been grinding – our bullpen, our starters and trying to do the best that we can and I’m going to be the most fresh guy. I’m going to try and cover as many innings as I can and try to be as efficient as possible.”