Another Hunter Greene Injury Could’ve Broken the Reds: Here’s Why It Didn’t

The Cincinnati Reds came into this spring with a strong confidence in their pitching staff. Led by their ace Hunter Greene, the Reds could have the best pitching staff in the National League. It didn't take long before Greene was sidelined with a crushing elbow injury.

In fact, Greene is going to be out until around July after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to fix a bone spur in his elbow. This kind of injury, especially to one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, can crush a team. Greene is the leader of the pitching staff, but Cincinnati won't have him for the first half of the year. Fortunately, they have plenty of talented pitchers on the roster aside from the flamethrowing righty.

The good news for Reds fans is this injury hasn't crushed the confidence in Cincinnati's pitching staff.

Reds Have Plenty of Pitching, Even After Hunter Greene's Injury

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Rhett Lowder (25) practices his pitch during the first day of full squad workouts, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, at the Cincinnati Reds player development complex in Goodyear, Ariz. | Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Everybody’s different,” Reds starter Nick Lodolo said this spring, per The Athletic. “Every day someone’s gonna get a different look.”

The Reds will begin the season with Andrew Abbott, Lodolo, and Brady Singer taking the ball against the Boston Red Sox. All three of these pitchers are distinctly different in almost every conceivable way. Abbott is a lefty who pounds the zone with a multitude of offspeed pitches. Lodolo is a 6-foot-6 lefty with long limbs and a few wipeout breaking pitches. Singer is a funky righty who throws hitters off with his unique delivery and tempo. All three were dominant last year.

There are some other pitchers dominating this spring for the Reds, too.

“We have a good mix of guys,” Reds pitcher Rhett Lowder said. “You’ve got stuff, you have location, and game planning and then angles. You have a little bit of everything with this group.”

Lowder has been one of the more dominant pitchers in spring training this year. He's similar to Brady Singer in a few ways, but his changeup is as dominant as any off-speed pitch among Reds prospects.

Cincinnati also has Chase Burns, who has Cy Young potential, alongside Brandon Williamson, who's returning from an injury this season. Burns has an electric fastball with a wipeout slide. Williamson is another lanky lefty with multiple offspeed pitches.

At the end of the day, the Reds have plenty of depth. The Greene injury is going to hurt because he's one of the best pitchers in the league, but Cincinnati has five or six high quality starting pitchers this season. Aside from Greene, and they all get outs in different ways.

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