- The Washington Times - Sunday, April 17, 2022

Major League Baseball has a new velocity king.

Many baseball fans on Saturday night were introduced to Cincinnati Reds flamethrower Hunter Greene, who showed off his eye-popping velocity in a way no pitcher before him ever had. 

In the second start of his MLB career, the 22-year-old right-hander set the record for most 100-plus mph pitches in a game. He totaled 39 such pitches — six more than the previous record set by Mets ace Jacob deGrom last year. MLB.com’s Sarah Langs was the first to report Greene’s record-setting night.

Greene struck out six and allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings. He threw only 80 pitches, meaning nearly half of the balls he threw Saturday night were at least 100 mph. Thirteen of them went 101 mph — also a record. His fastest pitch was a 102 mph heater to strike out Freddie Freeman. 

Greene’s velocity didn’t come out of nowhere. The hard-throwing prospect was the second overall pick of the 2017 draft out of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California — just 15 miles away from where he broke the record Saturday night playing against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. 

• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.

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