Hunter Greene’s dozen strikeout game earns him Cincinnati Reds player of the week

So sayeth we, at least!

Hunter Greene was, quite simply, the best pitcher on the face of the planet through the first three-ish weeks of the 2025 Major League Baseball season.

His last two starts, however, began to show a few chinks in his armor, as starts against the potent Baltimore Orioles offense and in Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies saw him yield 8 ER in just 9.0 IP.

Greene got an extra day of rest during his most recent turn through the rotation of the Cincinnati Reds, however, with a postponed game and the MLB debut of Chase Petty giving him an extended chance to regroup. Regroup he did, and on Friday night against the Washington Nationals he turned in yet another dazzling performance.

Greene fanned 12 Nats in a brilliant 6.0 IP outing, allowing a lone earned run on a pair of hits and a pair of walks while flashing his patented combination of wipeout slider and triple-digit velocity. The 114 pitches he tossed were a high for anyone this MLB season, too, and the entirety of the effort was good enough for him to claim this week’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Player of the Week award.

Through 7 starts this season, Greene leads all of baseball in WHIP (0.82) while sporting a 2.53 ERA (173 ERA+). Perhaps more importantly, he’s dropped his BB/9 all the way down to just 1.7 (from 3.4 last year), and his 6.88 K/BB ranks in the top five among all MLB pitchers so far.

Greene proved last year that he’s a bona fide ace. This year, he’s showing that he’s still capable of being even better than that.

His next start is scheduled for Wednesday in Atlanta against the Braves in the third game of the four-game series between the former NL West rivals.