'No fear': What promoting Hunter Greene shows about the Cincinnati Reds philosophy

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – When Cincinnati Reds second baseman Jonathan India learned that prospect Hunter Greene had made the team’s starting rotation, India smiled and looked right to Greene’s locker in the team clubhouse.

Greene wasn’t there at the time, so India had to wait to congratulate him. India said he was already thinking of ways to help make Greene’s transition to MLB easier.

“Starting your career in the big leagues doesn’t really happen, this is not a normal thing,” India said. “The guys last year really worked to make it easy for me. We’ll do the same thing for Hunter.”

For the second consecutive year, the Reds will have a recent first round pick make his big league debut on the Opening Day roster. Last year, India started the season as the Reds second baseman. This year, Greene will open the year in the Reds rotation.

According to MLB Pipeline, there are only two pitchers in the top-100 who have already been guaranteed a spot in a big league rotation for the start of the 2022 season. One of them is Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan, who made five big league starts last season.

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The other is Greene, who will start the regular season as one of the youngest players in MLB at 22 years old.

Last season, there was only one big league starting pitcher who made his big league debut in the first week of the season. Kohei Arihara began the 2021 season in the Texas Rangers starting rotation, but Arihara, 29, had been a professional starting pitcher in Japan for six seasons.

Greene will make his first big league start in the first week of the 2022 season against the Atlanta Braves, the reigning World Series champions. He'll be challenged right from the beginning.

“There’s no fear there,” Reds manager David Bell said. “This is what it’s all about, giving these opportunities to young players. It’s exciting.”

Reds general manager Nick Krall said the team put Greene in the Opening Day rotation because that’s what gives the Reds the best chance to win early in the season. Last season, moving India to the Opening Day roster was the most aggressive move that the team made. This year, the Reds most aggressive move to win so far in 2022 was promoting Greene.

“If a player is ready, they’re ready,” Krall said. “Young players will come up and sometimes they’ll fail and sometimes they’ll succeed … If he has a chance to help this club and he is ready, then we should put him on the club.”

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In both the 2021 and 2022 offseasons, the Reds subtracted from the previous year’s teams. In 2021, the Reds lost two of their best relief pitchers, depth in the rotation and in the outfield. With India’s Rookie of the Year season, he helped make up for those losses by sparking the Reds lineup as the leadoff hitter.

The 2022 Reds will need to replace Sonny Gray and Wade Miley in the starting rotation, and starters Luis Castillo and Mike Minor will miss the beginning of the season with sore shoulders.

The Reds are counting on player development to lead the team to its next playoff appearance, and Greene will get that shot beginning on April 10. Nick Lodolo, the Reds first round pick in 2019, is a candidate to be named the fifth starter in the rotation.

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‘We can only make so much evaluation in spring training as a Major League staff so we rely heavily on our player development staff, as well, to help us determine if they’re ready,” Bell said. “What it really comes down to, more than anything for me, is are they ready to handle – not so much the success – but are they ready to handle failure?

“It's such a big part of the game. We know they’re talented. We know they can pitch at this level. But are they ready? We do not put guys in situations that they’re not ready to handle.”

In 2019, the Reds weren’t this aggressive with their top prospect, as Nick Senzel started the year in Triple-A. Since then, the Reds have challenged India and Greene from the start of their big league careers.

Last year, India had two hits on Opening Day against St. Louis Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty. This season, Greene will make his big league debut against the Braves. In his next start, Greene will face the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have one of the most talented lineups in the last 10 years.

In a week where most MLB teams are sending prospects to the minor leagues, the Reds put Greene in the rotation.

“It’s pretty cool for young guys to see this,” India said. “We want young guys in the minor leagues to see that we’re giving young guys an opportunity right away rather than manipulating service time. I hope guys realize that and work even harder to get to where we are.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why the Reds promoted Hunter Greene to Opening Day rotation