Hunter Greene is already flirting with stardom. Even after a recent stumble against the Baltimore Orioles, the Cincinnati Reds’ electric right-hander is carving out the best season of his young MLB career. He’s firmly established himself among the league’s top pitchers, on pace to set personal bests in both strikeouts and walks. Yet, for all his dominance, there’s a clear and fascinating path for Greene to climb even higher—from All-Star mainstay to bona fide Cy Young front-runner.
The foundation is already elite. Greene’s four-seam fastball, averaging a blistering 99.3 mph, has become one of the most unhittable pitches in the game, posting a stellar +4 run value this season. His wipeout slider, boasting a 51.3% whiff rate, is just as devastating. Together, those two pitches form a lethal one-two punch that few hitters can handle.
However, after the fastball and slider, Greene’s arsenal thins out. That lack of a dependable third pitch remains the one major gap keeping him from joining the game’s most elite tier. If Greene can add—or refine—a third reliable weapon, he could unlock an even scarier version of himself, turning outings where hitters “guess fastball or slider” into games where they simply have no answer at all.
Many of baseball’s modern aces—from Gerrit Cole to Spencer Strider—succeed not just because of elite stuff, but because they can keep hitters off-balance with multiple looks. For Greene, even the introduction of an average-grade changeup, cutter, or curveball could force hitters to respect more than just speed and movement, giving his fastball-slider combo even greater room to shine.
Hunter Greene has already arrived. But with just one key adjustment, he could be destined for something even bigger: the Cy Young conversation
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