Cincinnati Reds prospect Hunter Greene pitches during a game at Fox Cities Stadium last month. (Photo by Craig Wieczorkiewicz/The Midwest League Traveler)

Cincinnati Reds prospect Hunter Greene won’t be lighting up radar guns anymore this season.

Greene, whom I saw pitch for the Dayton Dragons against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers last month, is out for the rest of the season after being diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. The injury doesn’t require surgery, but the triple-digit fastballer will rehab at the Reds’ spring training facility in Arizona.

The right-hander, who turns 19 on Monday, was the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft and has spent this season in the Midwest League. Although he started slow with the Dragons, he made the necessary adjustments to turn things around and finish strong before the injury occurred. Overall he went 3-7 with a 4.48 ERA, 89 strikeouts and 23 walks in 68.1 innings/18 starts for Dayton, but those numbers are deceiving since the first third of his season was so poor compared to the dominance he showed the rest of the way. As MiLB.com’s Sam Dykstra noted in this story, Greene had a 10.06 ERA with 26 strikeouts and 10 walks in his first seven starts (17 innings), but posted a 2.63 ERA with 63 strikeouts and 13 walks in his next 11 starts (51.1 innings).

This was Greene’s first full season as a pro.

Nichols approaches milestone

Dragons broadcaster Tom Nichols will soon announce his 4,000th minor-league game. This is his 31st season as a baseball broadcaster and his 11th with the Dragons. You can read more about his career in this IndianaRBI.com story by Steve Krah.