Where Reds starter Hunter Greene gets his motivation from entering Year 3

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — During the offseason, Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene had a conversation with 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia about the concept of being an Opening Day starter.

In that conversation, Greene recognized how much pressure he put on himself to be the Reds’ Opening Day starter in 2023. Sabathia, who’s a close friend of Greene’s, reminded him that Opening Day is just one game. Greene recognizes the importance of Opening Day in Cincinnati, but his main focus in 2024 is putting together a consistent and complete season where he shows how good he can be.

“I’m just keeping things in perspective,” Greene said. “It is one game, and it’s a long season.”

On Sunday, Reds manager David Bell announced that new Reds starting pitcher Frankie Montas would be getting the nod on Opening Day in 2024. Montas has already pitched at an All-Star level in the big leagues, brings a lot of experience and has had the best spring of any Reds pitcher this year.

“Frankie has a lot of experience doing it, and he deserves it,” Greene said. “He has proven it time and time again as he competed at the highest level. He has done extremely well. I’m pitching the second game, and I’m looking forward to it.”

For Greene, this season isn’t about another Opening Day start or the title that comes along with starting the first game of the season. Throughout his professional career, he has spoken about becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball. Greene mentions Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander and Sandy Alcantara as some of the pitchers that he’s trying to emulate.

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When asked if not being the Reds’ Opening Day starter puts more of a chip on his shoulder, Greene shot down that idea.

“I don’t need motivation from other people to give me a kick in the (tail),” Greene said. “I have enough motivation. I’m working my butt off and putting the work in to get better. I’m trying to perfect my game.”

He recognizes that he still has room to grow to fully tap into his potential. Sometimes, Greene looks unhittable. During a four-game stretch last summer, he looked like an ace. In the biggest game he pitched all season, a late September matchup against the Minnesota Twins, Greene allowed one run and struck out 14 batters in seven innings to lead the Reds to a win in a must-win game.

On the other hand, Greene allowed four-plus runs in seven of his 22 starts. He only pitched more than six innings in two games all year.

“He has had to learn the hard way, and he found areas to get better,” Reds manager David Bell said. “You forget how young he is because he’s so good. I’m seeing a lot of effort put into the right areas. Being more of a professional and a good teammate. Working on new pitches to become a better pitcher. You don’t need any better pitches than he has. He’s plenty good enough.”

In 2022, the Reds rushed Greene to the big leagues at 22 years old and made him the youngest starting pitcher in MLB. He only made 49 starts in the minor leagues. He didn't have a lot of time to make adjustments before he got called up.

Last year, Greene said that the biggest lessons he learned were about the mental side of his game. He felt like he became a better professional, developed a better routine, built up core strength that will serve him well in the long run and “unlocked certain levels to myself.”

Greene hopes to build on those lessons in 2024. The 24-year-old with a 100 mph fastball is working on the best ways for him to sequence pitches, developing strategies to keep hitters who have seen him before guessing and adding two new pitches into his arsenal.

“The biggest thing that a lot of people need to understand is that I’m learning in the big leagues,” Greene said. “I didn’t have the luxury of learning in the minor leagues and college. It was awesome that I got called up at 22. It was fantastic. But the reality is everyone else, or a lot of other guys you look at, they all had the experience of three years of college to throw 100-plus innings every year in the minors. People need to keep that in perspective.”

The Reds gave Greene a long-term contract extension last April because they believe he’ll live up to the upside. Bell has backed up his confidence in Greene with his actions. Last year, when the Reds were pushing for a playoff spot, the plan was to have Greene pitch Game 162 if the Reds were in a win-or-go-home situation. If the Reds had already clinched a playoff spot by then, Greene would have pitched the series opener in the Wild Card round.

Even though Greene had his ups and downs last September, he was still the pitcher the Reds wanted on the mound with the season on the line.

“The bigger the game was, the better he pitched,” Reds catcher Luke Maile said. “That was my takeaway from his year last year. At the end, once he really trusted that his body was what he was accustomed to, he was able to let loose a little bit more. It was more proof that his stuff is as good as anyone in the league’s at getting guys to swing and miss.”

This year, Greene is motivated to be a crucial piece on a playoff team. Even though he won’t start the season opener, he’s set out to pitch like a top-of-the-rotation pitcher.

He sees his new splitter, his new curveball and more lower body strength as keys to pitching deeper into games and pitching more innings across the season.

“He has grown in every way,” Bell said. “He has always been great at this level, but there are things you have to learn. He’s right on track.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds starter Hunter Greene is self-motivated entering his third year