Sources - Hunter Greene, Reds agree on 6-year, $53M extension

Right-hander Hunter Greene and the Cincinnati Reds are in agreement on a six-year, $53 million contract extension, pending a physical, sources told ESPN, tying the hardest-throwing starter in baseball long-term to the organization that previously didn't have any salary guaranteed to players beyond this season.

Greene, 23, debuted last year as Cincinnati's rebuild remained a work in progress. The arrival of starters Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft alongside Greene have brought some semblance of hope back to an organization that, outside of the COVID-shortened season, last made the playoffs in 2013.

The deal starts this season and buys out two years of Greene's free agency, with a $21 million seventh-year club option that includes a $2 million buyout. If the Reds pick up the option, Greene would hit the open market after his age-29 season.

Signing pitchers at this age is a rarity — Greene joins Felix Hernández and Atlanta Braves star Spencer Strider as the youngest extended — but Greene brings a rare blend of qualities. His fastball sits around 99 mph and has topped out at 102 this season. But his slider, which he now throws around 40% of the time, may be his most effective pitch.

Even if he doesn't develop a third pitch to regularly use, Greene can more than subsist on the offerings he's got. After striking out 164 over 125 2/3 innings during a rookie season in which he posted a 4.44 ERA, Greene has struck out batters at an even higher rate in his four starts this season. While his ERA is 4.24, Greene has been saddled with a .413 average on balls in play. Once that normalizes, his ERA likely will follow.

Chosen with the No. 2 pick in the 2017 draft out of the Los Angeles area, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Greene underwent