Reds: David Bell makes right call naming Hunter Greene Opening Day starter

Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo are 1 and 1A in the Cincinnati Reds starting rotation. But one of the two had to take the ball on Opening Day and David Bell is going with flamethrower from southern California.

Don't overthink this. This is not a pronouncement on the part of Bell and staff that Greene is the No. 1 and Lodolo is the No. 2. In fact, one could easily make the argument that Lodolo is the better pitcher and has had the better spring.

But being named the Opening Day is about more than who is the best pitcher on the team. The Reds are trying to remake their image and they're pinning their hopes on Greene being a big part of that.

There is a certain pageantry that comes with Opening Day in Major League Baseball. With all 30 teams taking the field, hope springs eternal for every franchise as they embark upon a 162-game campaign to see if they're team is the best.

In Cincinnati, home of the first professional baseball team, Opening Day means so much more. It's a city-wide holiday, and Reds fans will line the streets prior to the ball game for the Findlay Market Parade and other festivities.

Anyone who's been paying attention to the Cincinnati Reds of late knows that they're odds of getting to the postseason, much less winning it all, are slim to none. But that doesn't mean that the upcoming season is meaningless. In fact, 2023 could lay the groundwork for what could be a tremendous era of Reds baseball.

Hunter Greene is one of a handful of players that can be the future face of the Reds franchise, and that is a big reason why he's getting the ball on Opening Day. Greene, along with Jonathan India and the up-and-coming Elly De La Cruz, could be the trio of Reds who lead the team into the next decade.

Again, this has nothing to do with Nick Lodolo's performance last season, his approach to the spring, or his long-term future in Cincinnati. This is more about drumming an excitement for Opening Day and one of the best ways to do so is to have the team's most electric arm on the bump against the Pittsburgh Pirates in less than three weeks.