The Courier-Journal (Louisville)

Greene’s All-Star nod adds to his motivation

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene has always been clear about the trajectory he sees his career trending.

“On the mound, I consider myself a monster,” Greene said after the Reds drafted him in 2017.

“I want to be one of the best pitchers in the game,” Greene said in March of 2023.

He’s still only 24-years-old, and he has still made only 64 starts in the big leagues. But as Greene keeps adding to his resume, he continues to live up to the hype.

He has already earned an Opening Day start and received a contract extension.

On Tuesday, Greene earned his first All-Star bid, joining the roster as an injury replacemen­t.

“I’ve always had huge expectatio­ns for myself,” Greene said. “Sometimes it can hurt me. I like to put too much expectatio­n on myself, but it’s good at the same time. It keeps me hungry. It keeps me motivated. It doesn’t allow me to get complacent.

“(This) might be validating for others who might have second guessed,” he added. “But for myself, I’m honestly not surprised.”

Greene has a 3.45 ERA this season and ranks 11th in MLB with 116 strikeouts. While he didn’t get the Opening Day start in 2024, he hasn’t missed a start, has consistent­ly pitched deep into games and has made significant adjustment­s to take his game to another level.

To make all of this happen, Greene said that he “wiped the drawing board this offseason.” After “a lot of self reflection,” he developed a new strategy for his throwing program and his routine to prepare for starts. He developed a better overall feel for pitching by improving his note-taking process.

Now, he has detailed notes about every pitch that he throws. That’s given him more answers and more confidence over the course of the season as hitters try to make adjustment­s against him.

“You definitely forget how young he is,” Reds manager David Bell said. “The growth this season has been incredible. He has put things in place. Now is the time. He has so much ahead of him. To be able to put it in place now and really age and learn so much about what makes him successful. It’ll multiply over the years.”

Greene has always faced an uncommonly bright spotlight. “It’s way different than anything I’ve experience­d,” Reds starting pitcher Nick Lodolo said.

Through his first two seasons, Greene didn’t immediatel­y live up to the skyhigh expectatio­ns that surrounded him. The Reds accelerate­d his timeline to the big leagues in 2022 and made him the youngest starting pitcher in baseball. There were a lot of bad outings, a lot of home runs allowed and a lot of starts where Greene couldn’t make it past the fifth inning.

There were also injuries as he missed time in each of his first two seasons. Last year, Greene missed over two months due to a hip injury. When he returned, he had a very up-and-down finish to the season and wrapped up the year with a 4.82 ERA.

Greene entered the offseason with a bigger chip on his shoulder.

“He’s so competitiv­e,” Bell said. “He wants to be great. That’s one thing about Hunter. He sees himself as a great pitcher working toward being the best. I want that for Hunter, too, of course. I also saw a pitcher that was having a lot of success and having normal setbacks and failures along the way. It probably did (put a bigger chip on his shoulder).”

This year, Greene impressed the Reds with the way he handled Frankie Montas getting the Opening Day start. Greene knew that he had to earn it. He noted that he had shown “glimpses” that he could become an ace, but he hadn’t done enough yet. Aces, he said, are pitchers who have thrown complete seasons and have been recognized with accolades like All-Star bids.

Now, Greene is an All-Star himself. It’ll likely be the first appearance of many.

“Hopefully, I’ll have more opportunit­ies like today,” Greene said. “It’s exciting to be able to do it early. The best part is that (last) offseason, I got an understand­ing more of what I need to do to perform at my best. I’m still figuring that out. All of us are still learning. It’s never going to stop. It’s even more motivation to go into the offseason to work even harder and do it again in the future.”

Greene has made a significant leap this season, and he believes that there’s still another big leap that he can take. He has always spoken about pitchers like Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander and Sandy Alcantara as aces that he wants to emulate. Those have been some of the best pitchers in baseball over the last decade, and Greene sees a chance for himself to reach that level.

“That’s an experience thing and an age thing,” Greene said. “There are questions that I don’t know to ask. I’m trying to chase those questions to ask and those life lessons. Those lessons you learn in a game. Sometimes, you don’t rush that process. It’s a time thing. That stuff has to come to you.”