Hunter Greene threw a bullpen session over the weekend in Pittsburgh and things went well. He’s scheduled to throw another bullpen session on Wednesday in Philadelphia. Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that if things go well on Wednesday that Greene will then throw living batting practice on Saturday. That would seem to then line him up to start a rehab stint afterwards – again, assuming all things go well.
Getting Hunter Greene back on the mound before the season comes to an end and showing that he’s healthy could go a long way towards the confidence of the fanbase to buy into the offseason moves that may or may not happen as they look forward to 2023. Having Greene show he’s healthy would at least provide some belief that the rotation doesn’t need as much depth added to it. With Greene, Nick Lodolo, and Graham Ashcraft, three fifths of the rotation should be accounted for next season.
There’s still plenty of work to do to round it out, though. Justin Dunn needs to start showing some improvements between now and the end of the season if he wants to be considered as anything more than a guy who has to go out and win a job in March. And after that, it’s just a bunch of prospects that are looking to win a spot in the spring. Free agency, or perhaps trades could help fill out the rotation with some more certainty.
Tejay Antone back on the mound
Last year was going great for Tejay Antone….. until it wasn’t. The reliever had a 2.48 ERA for his career, spanning the 2020 and 2021 seasons and 69.0 innings. Things were going well for Antone until late August when he injured his elbow and required Tommy John surgery. He’s almost at a full year since undergoing surgery and this past week he got back on the mound for the first time. Antone isn’t going to return to the Reds this season, but he’s well on target to be fully ready to go next season. After watching the bullpen in 2022, sans Alexis Diaz, getting Antone back could be huge if he can return to anything remotely close to the pitcher he was.
Cam Collier’s hot start to his pro career
When the Cincinnati Reds were able to draft Cam Collier with the 18th overall pick it was viewed as the steal of the draft as long as the team could sign him. Collier was rated as highly as the #2 talent in the draft by Keith Law of The Athletic, and was a consensus top 10 talent everywhere. The Reds had to pay significantly more than the slot value of the 18th pick to sign Collier, but they got the deal done.
With the timing of the draft being so late in the summer now (it used to take place 5-6 weeks earlier than it does now), playing time is limited for draft picks these days. As a result, the 17-year-old Collier has only played in eight games this season out in Goodyear for the Arizona Complex League reds, but he’s made those eight games really count. Last night he homered and walked, giving him a .391/.548/.696 line in 31 plate appearances to go along with seven walks and just five strikeouts.
Here’s the video of his home run (ignore than walk and strikeout rates from the tweet – they are off by one):
Cam Collier hit his 2nd pro HR of his young pro career tonight. He will complete his 1st pro season w a .391/.548/.696 slash. An OPS of 1.244. 8 BB’s vs 6 K’s. #MESMFAMILY @Cam_Collier16 @ChinMusic6 pic.twitter.com/cv5HlqLyXf
— Munger English SM (@MungerEnglishSM) August 23, 2022
