Reds ace Hunter Greene has second Tommy John surgery, ending 2026 season and casting doubt on 2027

Cincinnati’s pitching plans took a major hit on Wednesday when the Reds announced that Hunter Greene underwent his second Tommy John surgery. The team said the operation was performed to repair a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, a procedure commonly associated with a long rehabilitation timeline for major league pitchers.

This will not be Greene’s first experience with Tommy John surgery. The Reds described the Wednesday procedure as his second time undergoing the procedure in his career, underscoring that the right elbow issue is not a one-off injury but a recurring medical challenge tied to the throwing arm’s UCL. In baseball terms, that distinction matters because repeat Tommy John recoveries can be more complicated to manage than an initial procedure.

The Reds also provided the most significant timeline detail: the surgery is expected to end Greene’s 2026 season. Beyond this year, the team’s announcement indicated that the right-hander is expected to miss most, if not all, of the 2027 season as well. For a pitcher who anchors a rotation, the impact stretches across roster cycles, because the innings and development lost in consecutive seasons are difficult to replace at the same level.

Greene’s absence forces Cincinnati to rethink its near-term rotation configuration and its mid-season depth needs. With a starter out for the remainder of 2026, the organization will have to shuffle starters, lean more heavily on bullpen arms for longer and higher-leverage stints, and determine whether internal options can cover rotation turns without sacrificing performance or increasing injury risk.

The situation also changes the Reds’ broader workload management approach. A rotation spot is more than a single game, it affects bullpen usage patterns, rest days, and how quickly other starters can be brought back. When an ace-quality arm goes down, teams often have to rely on less certain innings sources for a stretch, which can influence day-to-day decisions from pitch counts to the timing of call-ups.

For Greene, what comes next is rehabilitation. After a second Tommy John, the focus typically becomes rebuilding throwing strength and mechanics through a staged return-to-throwing plan, with performance benchmarks guiding each step. While the Reds stated the expected time away from pitching for 2027, the practical question now becomes whether his elbow recovery tracks smoothly through each phase of the process.

What to watch from Cincinnati next is how the rotation picture evolves in the wake of the injury announcement. The Reds will likely prioritize stability in the starting corps for the final stretch of 2026, while also mapping a longer-term plan for 2027 that accounts for Greene’s absence. The team’s ability to absorb the workload and keep the pitching staff healthy will be the clearest indicator of how quickly Cincinnati can adjust to life without its top starter.