2026 Fantasy Baseball: Pump the Brakes on Hunter Greene

The Reds stated that Hunter Greene will have an MRI on his right elbow on Wednesday, which will lead to him to fall in fantasy drafts until they is better update on his health.

SP Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The pitcher pool is a minefield of injuries every season. Losing a front-end ace is devastating to team builds and will be challenging to overcome for the game managers who drafted early. Fortunately, there are many more days of drafting left to avoid Hunter Greene until his medical report has been released.

Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds (NFBC ADP – 47)

2026 Hunter Greene Pitching Stats | Shawn Childs

Greene has arrived as a foundation ace arm, except for his ability to be on the field for 30 starts. Over the past two years, he went 16-9 over 45 games, with a 2.76 ERA, 0.984 WHIP, and 301 strikeouts over 258.0 innings. Last season, his first-pitch strike rate (68.6%) reached elite status, leading to batters hitting .192 against him.

After a great start to 2025 (4-3 with a 2.72 ERA, 0.972 WHIP, and 73 strikeouts over 59.2 innings), Greene landed on the injured list for 70 days with a groin issue. He had similar success over his last eight games (3-1 with a 2.81 ERA, 0.896 WHIP, and 59 strikeouts over 48.0 innings).

Hunter Greene, 102 MPH on his 107th Pitch! pic.twitter.com/0deGdAmEMg

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 19, 2025

His average fastball (99.4 mph) was one of his best in the game, which he threw 53.6% of the time. Batters struggled to hit his four-seamer (.207 BAA) and slider (.171 BAA) while battling his split-finger pitch (.294 BAA).

Fantasy Outlook: This draft season, Greene has been treated as a backend SP1 despite never pitching over 150.1 innings in his career. Home runs (1.3 per nine) crept back into his equation last year while finishing with the best command of his career (2.2 walks per nine – 3.3 in his career). I thought Greene was a great deal last season, but he paid about 60 cents on the dollar.

His reward was expected to outweigh his risk in 2026, but his recent injury news puts Greene in the no-draft zone. He has the talent to be a league winner if ever on the field for 30 starts. Unfortunately, the Reds will most likely be without him to start the year.