Hunter Greene realizes his dream, but can he carry the weight for Reds, MLB?

Mike Vorkunov | Special for USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption Breaking down the top five picks of the MLB draft A brief look at each of the five players who were taken at the top of the 2017 MLB draft.

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- The legend of Hunter Greene has, in many ways, already outpaced the person. He is just 17 but hits 102 mph on the radar gun and mashes home runs with ease. He is the rare baseball player who has name recognition before he becomes an adult. The hardest choice for the teams that scouted him may well have been whether to leave him as a flame-throwing right-handed pitcher or a toolsy shortstop.

Greene is a rare breed -- young, talented and composed. Not even 18, Greene already has a Sports Illustrated cover to his name. In April, the magazine called him “The Star Baseball Needs.”

And Monday night, his professional career finally began. After the Twins selected second baseman Royce Lewis with the top pick, passing on the opportunity to take a high school right-hander with the No. 1 overall choice for the first time in history, the Cincinnati Reds took Greene with the second overall pick in Major League Baseball's draft, selected the most-hyped prospect in the field and one of the most intriguing players to hit the sports in a long time.

At 7:17 p.m., commissioner Rob Manfred uttered his name in the MLB Network studio here masquerading as a baseball field. Greene stood up from his seat in a faux dugout, digested his fate and turned around to hug his father, Russell. Despite the pomp following him and his growing frame belying his age, for a moment, at least, Greene was caught up in the moment like any other draftee -- a high schooler achieving a dream in an instant.

“It’s surreal,” he said.

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This is, of course, just the beginning of the journey. Greene, like few MLB picks before him in recent years, already holds a weight on his shoulders. He is the first high school baseball player to get the cover of SI since Bryce Harper -- a precocious superstar he can only hope to replicate. The only other baseball player to have a cover this season is Aaron Judge -- who leads the major leagues in home runs and WAR.

“If there was ever a young man who could live up to a Sports Illustrated cover at age 17, I think Hunter is that young man,” Manfred said.

While Greene may embrace it and the sport may relish the publicity, it is still a large burden to bear. He comes along at a time when baseball is transitioning from its Derek Jeter era to a generation of new young stars.

“It’s ridiculous,” George Brett, the Royals Hall of Famer here for draft festivities, told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s (expletive) ridiculous. I think it’s ridiculous. He’s too young. Too many things can happen. It’s just not fair.”

He added: “It’s ridiculous to put that much pressure on anybody that’s never played one game of professional baseball. The savior of the game – Give me a (expletive) break. He’s a kid.”

Greene will turn 18 in August, and may have signed with the Reds by then. When he does, he will pitch and play in the field, he says -- the team has agreed to give him the opportunity.

He dominated as a pitcher at Notre Dame (Calif.) High School, striking out 43 batters in 28 innings his senior year and posting a 0.75 ERA. He also hit .324 and had a .972 while playing shortstop.

He began playing baseball as an infielder but moved to the mound when his coaches and his dad recognized his arm strength. His velocity is superlative, even in this great age of fastballs.

“Man, I’m a monster,” he says of his mindset as a pitcher. “I’m different on the field than I am off the field.”

Greene’s portfolio is already larger than just his baseball exploits. He is leaning into his profile as a possibly transcendent player. The publicity, he says, was coming so he steeled himself for it.

“I just have to be professional about it on and off the field and just put a smile on my face, enjoy the whole thing,” he said. “When I go out there, show people that I am the best and I can do it but at the same time I’m humble and mature.”

He is already leaning in as an ambassador to the African-American community, hoping to reinvigorate interest in the sport and stand as a symbol of its success. He attended the Compton MLB Youth Academy and believes that time -- he joined at 7 -- has helped propel him. Manfred is already pointing to him as a product of the system MLB has helped build and hopes that it can produce more players like him -- adding another layer of responsibility.

But Greene isn’t trying to shortchange his ambition. He wants to make baseball more prominent. period, without limitations or demographic targeting. To take back the market share from the NBA and NFL.

"It’s a sport that -- I don’t want to say has lost the love from other people -- but it’s a sport that people are kind of, I guess, are shying away from and going to other sports to compete in,” he said. “I think it’s – I don’t think, I know it’s the best game. It’s important that these kids and other guys build a passion for the game and enjoy it as much as possible.”

The easiest way for Greene to do that is just by being himself -- one home run and one strikeout at a time.