Zack Greinke Bet Royals Rookie That He Wouldn't Hit Home Run This Season

Zack Greinke remains one of the most interesting men in sports.

The 38-year-old, future Hall of Fame pitcher returned to the team that drafted him — the Kansas City Royals — for his 19th Major League season in 2022.

Greinke recently had some fun with a recently called-up rookie.

Newly-acquired Drew Waters made his big league debut August 22.

The Royals acquired Waters from the Atlanta Braves in July. He was the Braves' no. 1 overall prospect in 2021, according to MLB.com's prospect rankings.

In addition to Waters, the Royals added pitching prospect Andrew Hoffmann and third base prospect CJ Alexander in the trade, in exchange for the 35th overall pick of the 2022 Major League Baseball draft.

With the 35th overall pick, the Braves selected 19-year-old pitcher JR Ritchie out of Bainbridge High School in Washington.

Through Waters' first 13 career games, the outfielder is already showing a lot of promise.

Last week, Waters made a fantastic catch, robbing White Sox outfielder AJ Pollock of a hit, and a potential home run.

Monday, he hit the first home run of his career.

After the game, Waters told Royals beat writer Anne Rogers (MLB.com) that Greinke owed him $100.

Drew Waters said Zack Greinke bet him shortly after he was called up that he wouldn't hit a homer with KC this season. When Waters went deep tonight, Greinke was the first person he was looking for. Waters' thoughts as he ran the bases?

"I just got Zack Greinke's 100 bucks."
— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) September 6, 2022

According to Waters, Greinke bet him that he would not hit a home run as a member of the Royals in 2022. He would have 39 games to do so.

If Waters homered, he would collect $100 from Greinke. If he didn't, he'd pay up.

Waters hit 13 home runs over 103 games across three different minor league teams in 2022.

Waters, smiling, said that Greinke hasn't paid up yet, but Greinke did mention the payment: "He was like, 'That's awesome. Nice swing.' He said, 'I owe you.' So that was good."
— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) September 6, 2022

Monday, Waters went yard in the Royals' 6-5 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, and Greinke was quick to congratulate him.

"He was like, 'That's awesome. Nice swing," Waters told Rogers. "[Greinke] said, 'I owe you.' So that was good."