Hunter Greene Shows His Elite Velocity

The last time righthander Hunter Greene pitched in a minor league game was July 26, 2018. He injured his elbow and after an attempted rehab process he had Tommy John surgery in April 2019.

Without a minor league season in 2020, the 21-year-old Greene didn’t get back on the mound again until he joined the alternate training site in July.

“It was awesome because there were a lot of guys who were home who didn’t have the opportunity to go out and play and be around a high level of guys,” the 2017 first-rounder from Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks, Calif., said.

“For me it was nice to go in and get my innings, but my biggest takeaway was kind of learning more of the big league life and just the day-to-day work and just kind of the expectations.”

The velocity came back after surgery. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Greene routinely hit triple digits last summer.

This spring he’s picked up another tick. In his only appearance in a big league spring game this year, his first three pitches clocked in at 101, 102 and 103 mph. A few weeks later he hit 104 mph on multiple pitches during a game on the back fields.

“There’s a lot to work on other than just velocity,” Greene said. “It’s great and a lot of guys are like, ‘Man, I wish I threw that hard.’

“But for me I’m trying to work on some other things—my secondary pitches, just more like pitch philosophy and understanding who I am as a pitcher and how I get guys out the best—just focusing on that is kind of my biggest takeaway.”

Getting back into games will help the righthander work on those things. He went 3-7, 4.48 with 89 strikeouts in 68.1 innings in 2019 at Low-A Dayton.

It’s been a long road to get back for Greene, but he’s looking forward to continuing his journey.

 

RED HOTS

— After standing out at the alternate training site last summer, Jonathan India forced his way into a starting role at second base with the big league team this spring by hitting .313/.441/.604 in 22 games. Manager David Bell noted that India’s performance and skills were one of the reasons the organization felt more comfortable trying to move Eugenio Suarez to shortstop and Mike Moustakas to third base, creating an opening for India in the lineup.

— Righthander Vladimir Gutierrez will begin the year serving the rest of a suspension from last season, but this spring he found plenty of success. He allowed one unearned run in seven innings while striking out 11 of the 26 hitters he faced. His velocity was sitting a bit higher than usual. He was working in the mid 90s and touching higher.