Updated March 17, 2026, 9:59 p.m. ET
GOODYEAR, AZ. − Hunter Greene is back with the Cincinnati Reds post-surgery, and he’s hopeful he’ll be able to shave some time off his projected recovery timeline.
Following his March 11 surgery in Los Angeles to remove bone chips in his right elbow, Greene returned to the Reds Player Development Complex in Goodyear on March 17. During a meeting with reporters, he said the problem was fixed by the operating surgeon, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, and that he’d be unable to throw for about six weeks.
Greene confirmed the projected recovery timeline of 14-16 weeks, and left the door open for hope of an earlier return so long as the rehab went as planned.
“I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t have a crystal ball but I’m going to continue to put my best foot forward,” Greene said. “It’d be awesome to cut that time down without sacrificing the progression itself but obviously I want to get out there and I’m anxious to get back out on the field, so, without sacrificing, like I said, the progress of the actual rehab. It would be great to cut that time down.”
The March 17 interview was Greene’s first since departing Reds camp March 4 to seek opinions from ElAttrache and longtime Reds team doctor, Dr. Timothy Kremchek. That day, Greene outlined the timeline of events related to the injury, from pitching through discomfort late in 2025 to treating the injury with an injection in during the offseason.
Opting to not have surgery was a scrutinized portion of Greene’s timeline because surgery during spring camp will keep him out of games until at least mid-July. Greene addressed the decision during his March 17 comments.
“Surgery is never the first option, right? And there’s protocol,” Greene said. “Protocol for this was either an injection or rest, and I did both. Obviously, it’s the offseason, so in-season, it might have been approached a little differently but in the offseason, that was the approach and it’s worked… Injections help certain guys. Depends on the case. Depends on the player. But sometimes, it doesn’t work, so unfortunately, that was my situation.”
Prior to departing Reds camp to seek medical evaluations of his elbow, Greene said he endured discomfort over his last six or seven starts of the 2025 season. His triple-digit velocity didn’t dip as there was no damage to his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). Greene said March 17 that was still the case regarding his UCL, which was found to be intact during his March 11 procedure.
Asked why he reported feeling good after his lone start in Cactus League play Feb. 28, Greene said he recalled saying that but contended it wasn’t the right time to begin publicly discussing the stabbing pain he was feeling on every pitch.
“It wasn’t a time for me to say that I’m feeling it,” Greene said. “And I was still in a head space of ‘maybe I can get through this. Maybe I can continue to work and push through the inflammation and push through whatever I was feeling.’ Even though I knew I had the bone spurs prior to that game. I was just hoping that, man, can I flush through this? Can I get through it? There’s a lot of guys that are dealing with knick-knack stuff through spring training. And that’s getting the body back going. So I was kind of leaning more on that.
“And I think if I would have said I’m not feeling good that would have spiraled into a lot of other things.”
Reds manager Terry Francona greeted Greene in a playful nature earlier March 17.
“Said hello to him,” Francona said. “Told him he’s being a big baby and hurry up and let’s go. Good to see him. He’s already in there doing some (recovery) stuff, so that was good.”
Francona said the team and Greene would soon decide if the pitcher would continue his recovery at the team’s complex in Goodyear after the Reds break camp Sunday, March 22.
In Greene’s absence, Andrew Abbott was named the club’s Opening Day starter. Nick Lodolo and Brady Singer were later named the team’s Nos. 2 and 3 starters, and a combination of Rhett Lowder, Chase Burns and Brandon Williamson will combine to cover early-season starting pitching needs.
Francona announced a combination Lowder-Burns-Williamson solution as a temporary one during his March 17 meeting with reporters.
“I’d been dealing with discomfort for a while,” Greene said. “Obviously, through the course of a season and feeling certain things in areas, especially an elbow as a pitcher, you think that it’s just, ‘Man, maybe I’m just feeling a little inflammation or discomfort and it’s to be expected because we’re pitchers.’ Obviously, it’s a lot on the body. So, I think that’s always been there. The bone spurs came up as chronic. So, there’s no time stamp as to when it formed. But it’s been there.
“So, it’s nice to feel a difference. And it’s really early, so I still feel it. It’s still uncomfortable and swollen. But there’s already a lot of freedom in the elbow.”
