Reds place Hunter Greene on the 15-day injured list

21:10: After today's game, Reds manager David Bell said Greene's MRI looked encouraging (per Goldsmith). While he added that it was too early to give a timetable for Greene's return, the captain seemed optimistic that his ace could be back on the mound once his minimum 15-day stay on the injured list is up.

19:51: The Reds have fielded an All-Star starting pitcher Hunter Greene on the 15-day injured list with right elbow soreness, the team announced. The club has not taken any action ahead of today's game against the Royals at Great American Ball Park.

Greene, 25, was absolutely dominant in his last start, holding the Cardinals to four hits and one run in seven innings. He struck out eight players and walked just one. However, he reportedly felt soreness in his elbow after the outing (per Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The pain temporarily subsided, but returned today while catching. President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall told Goldsmith that the stay on the injured list is currently a precautionary measure and that Greene will need an MRI before the team can decide on further steps.

The young flamethrower underwent Tommy John surgery as a minor leaguer in 2018. While his elbow has remained healthy since then, Greene spent several weeks on the IL in 2022 with a shoulder strain and in 2023 with hip pain. Finally, 2024 seemed to be the year he would get it all together. His star potential had long been evident, but he finally produced star-level results with a 2.83 ERA in 143 1/3 innings pitched, which is a career high. Unfortunately, his excellent season has now been put on hold. It's unclear how serious the problem might be, but it's obviously concerning when a hard-throwing pitcher with a history of UCL issues goes on the IL with elbow pain.

With Graham Ashcraft And Brandon Williamson Cincinnati's starting lineup is already quite thin on the 60-day IL. Other starters in the 40-man squad are Connor Phillips And Lyon Richardsonbut Phillips was sent to the Reds' training complex in June amid tremendous struggles at Triple-A (10.11 ERA in 14 GS), while Richardson has been pitching out of the bullpen at Triple-A lately despite having a difficult season of his own (4.58 ERA in 23 G).

Therefore, the Reds will likely need to add a pitcher to their 40-man roster to start in Greene's place on Monday. They already have an open spot for that. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com calls the 23-year-old right-hander Julian Aguiar and 31-year-old right-hander Connor Overton as possible options, but he notes that the team has no plans to promote the 22-year-old right-hander Rhett Lowderone of the organization's most promising young players, from Double-A.