Greene saw 25 pitches across three plate appearances against three relievers in Wednesday’s 4-4 tie with the Blue Jays at Joker Marchant Stadium. He did not swing and miss at any of them. Greene did not chase a pitch out of the strike zone until pitch 18, when he had a full count and was in battle mode against Blue Jays Minor Leaguer Pat Gallagher, fighting off breaking balls to continue his at-bat.
Greene fouled off seven consecutive pitches across five pitch types from Gallagher: curveball, cutter, slider, fastball, slider, curveball, changeup. On the 13th pitch of the at-bat, Greene saw a 90.9 mph fastball that dove in on his feet for ball four, sending Greene to first base with his third walk of the game. It started a four-run inning that culminated in Thayron Liranzo’s three-run homer.
“When you have a long at-bat like that, and you foul off a bunch of pitches in a row, you get into swing mode a little bit,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “So to be able to draw the walk at the end for Riley after fouling off so many pitches is a good sign.”
Officially, Greene went 0-for-0 in the game. Unofficially, it was a win, especially after former teammate Miguel Cabrera talked with him a day earlier about trying to get his strikeout-to-walk ratio closer to even with consistently good at-bats, something Cabrera learned at a similar stage in his career after joining the Tigers and being challenged by then-manager Jim Leyland.
“Obviously, we can cut down on strikeouts. We can get more walks,” Greene said. “And not even numbers-wise; a lot of the moments and plays I left out there because mentally I wasn't really focused on the situation. So like, a one-out, runner-on-second, I'm not trying to do it, but the game takes over and your body takes over and you want to hit that big homer instead of, 'Hey, let's choke up and let's get a base hit here and score a run.' I'm well aware of that now. ...
“I had a lot of conversations about the situations and the moments and slowing the game down and not letting the game speed up on you. Mentally, I really want to focus on that and just take what the game gives me.”
Greene had the same approach in Thursday afternoon’s 6-5 walk-off loss to the Orioles, but different results, going 0-for-3. He chased one pitch out of the zone and hit it hard for a well-struck lineout to right. He did not swing and miss at a pitch; his only wave was a hello to Mountcastle across the dugouts.
“Friendly banter,” Mountcastle said.
So what does the next level look like for Greene?
“The sky’s the limit for the kid,” Mountcastle said. “Unbelievable player, unbelievable human. He’s got all the tools, all the talent in the world, so anything’s possible for him. ... He's so good, just naturally so talented. He works really hard. I wouldn't even say it shocks me at this point, but it's unbelievable to watch and keep up with, for sure.”
