RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Cincinnati Reds ace Hunter Greene has undergone Tommy John surgery for a second time and will miss the remainder of the 2026 season and all of the 2027 season, the team announced on Thursday (via the Cincinnati Enquirer ).
Greene, who recently turned 27, didn't make his first start of the current season until early July because of elbow issues. In all, Greene made just five starts in 2026, and over that span, he pitched to a 6.83 ERA with 33 strikeouts and nine walks in 27 ⅔ innings. One of the hardest throwers in all of baseball, particularly among starting pitchers, Greene for his career boasts an ERA+ of 117 and a WAR of 12.8 across parts of five MLB seasons. In 523 ⅓ career innings, Greene has struck out 650 batters. In 2024, Greene earned his first and thus far only All-Star selection and also finished eighth in the National League Cy Young vote. That marked the beginning of a two-year peak in which Greene from 2024 to 2024 had an ERA of 2.76 across a combined 45 starts.
The Reds made Greene the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2017. Greene was a premium prospect coming up through the Reds system, but then he underwent his first Tommy John procedure in 2019. After recovery, he resumed his upward trajectory and made his big-league debut in 2022.
In April of 2023, Greene and the Reds agreed to a six-year, $53 million contract extension that will run through the 2028 season with a club option for 2029. That contract was backloaded, and Greene is still owed a minimum of almost $34 million, and that's not including the balance of his $8.33 million salary for 2026.
The loss of Greene comes amid what's been a disappointing season for the Reds. Coming off a postseason berth in 2025, Cincinnati this season has stumbled to a 57-62 record and sits in fourth place in the National League Central. Only the Rockies among NL teams have a worse run differential than the Reds' current mark of -78.
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