Hunter Greene can't catch a break with that right elbow. Less than five months after having bone chips removed from it in March, the Reds' 26-year-old right-hander is reportedly set to go back under the knife, according to MLB Trade Rumors.
The timeline here is brutal. Greene had an arthroscopic procedure in the spring to clean out loose bodies in his elbow, missed the first three-plus months of the season, and only just worked his way back into the Cincinnati rotation. He made 5 starts after returning, and the results were shaky on the surface — a 6.83 ERA — but the underlying numbers actually looked encouraging, with a 27.3% strikeout rate and just a 7.4% walk rate. The ERA was propped up by a rough 49.4% strand rate, the kind of thing that tends to fix itself over a bigger sample.
It never got the chance to fix itself. Greene landed back on the injured list on August 5 after feeling soreness in that same elbow during a side session, and the club sent him to Los Angeles to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache — a name pitchers only hear when things are serious. No formal diagnosis or return timetable had been announced before word of the surgery came down.
This isn't new territory for Greene. He's the No. 2 overall pick from the 2017 draft and has flashed frontline stuff for years, but he's also landed on the IL in every one of his 5 major league seasons, including a monthlong elbow absence back in 2024. The bone spurs in that elbow date back to last season, when Greene reportedly pitched through the pain trying to help push Cincinnati toward the postseason — the kind of decision that looks noble in October and catches up with you the following summer.
The Reds entered the news at 54-58 and 5 games back of a playoff spot, so the postseason math was already ugly. Now a rotation that's been piecing things together with Chase Burns, Brady Singer, Rhett Lowder and Andrew Abbott — while hoping Nick Lodolo and Brandon Williamson finish rehab — loses its best arm for good. Depending on what kind of procedure Greene needs, this isn't just a 2026 problem; a significant elbow surgery could realistically push his return into next season, which would be a massive blow to a Reds club that's already been selling off pieces like Nathaniel Lowe and Caleb Ferguson.
For fantasy managers who rode Greene's strikeout upside all summer, this is a shut-it-down situation. For the Reds, it's another reminder that building around a talented but fragile arm comes with real cost. Expect an update on the actual procedure and recovery window once Greene's evaluation with Dr. ElAttrache wraps up.