Reds' Greene amped up in full-season debut
Pitching in cold weather for the first time, 2017 No. 2 overall Draft pick Hunter Greene showed a bit of fire.Making his Class A debut, the second-ranked Cincinnati prospect recorded eight strikeouts while holding the opposition to two runs on five hits over three innings in Dayton's 3-2 win over
Pitching in cold weather for the first time, 2017 No. 2 overall Draft pick
Making his Class A debut, the second-ranked Cincinnati prospect recorded eight strikeouts while holding the opposition to two runs on five hits over three innings in Dayton's 3-2 win over visiting Lake County at Fifth Third Field on Monday.
In his final frame, Greene fanned three in a row to strand two runners in scoring position. He pounded his chest while walking away from the mound.
"I knew I was done after that inning, so I knew I could show [emotion] a little bit more," Greene told MLB.com. "I live for situations like that, where you get in a jam and you have to just bear down. That's when you really become a pitcher. That's when you really show you know how to throw in certain counts, your pitches are ready, every single pitch in the arsenal. My team was fired up too. That was a great situation to get out of."
With a game-time temperature of 39 degrees, the native of the Los Angeles area hit 100 mph with his fastball on his first three pitches and regularly worked in the upper-90s.
Gameday box score
"[The cold] actually wasn't bad," the No. 21 overall prospect told MLB.com. "I had some great layers underneath. I had a little heat warmer in my back pocket and we had a rocket-flame thing in the dugout. I was warm and ready to go."
Greene struck out the first batter he faced, but
The 18-year-old right-hander turned in a 1-2-3 second, punching out two more.
"Everybody is sitting dead-red fastball, they're bringing their 'A' game when they come out," Greene told MLB.com. "To pick the right count to throw the secondary pitches is important. I was able to do that a little bit in the last inning and make an adjustment. ... To be able to bounce back, show your maturity and your competitiveness is what I was trying to do. I had a good team behind me to defend and come back with some runs."
Also a standout shortstop and hitter at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, Greene gave up seven runs -- six earned -- while striking out six over 4 1/3 innings across three starts for Rookie-level Billings last year. As a hitter, he went 7-for-30 (.233) with two doubles and a triple over seven games.
Following Greene's exit in the third, righty
No. 12 Reds prospect Jose Israel Garcia finished 2-for-4.
Josh Jackson is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow and interact with him on Twitter, @JoshJacksonMiLB.