The New York Yankees are lucky that Howard and Sheena Green had two baby boys on May 24, 1991. One of them was Chad Green, his middle name is Keith, and he has a twin brother named Chase. He also has a sister Lynsie, and an older brother, Blake. Chase also played baseball in college. Chad was born in Greenville, South Carolina, but moved to Illinois with his family. Green played in Little League and continued his interest in baseball at Effingham, Illinois, high school where he was selected All-Conference, and in the senior year he made All-State.
Chad at age 19 was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 37th round of the draft but decided to attend the University of Louisville, where he played baseball for the Louisville Cardinals. He left college with the university record for the lowest ERA at 2.38. This was followed by him being selected in the eleventh round of the 2013 draft by the Detroit Tigers. He made his professional debut that year with the GCL Tigers, and after two games, was promoted to the Lakeland Flying Tigers, where he finished the year with a 3-0 record and a 3.63 ERA in 17.1 innings pitched. He continued on to the Whitecaps and Seawolves.
In December of 2015, the Tigers traded Luis Cessa and Green to the New York Yankees for Justin Wilson. He started the 2016 season with Scranton Wilkes/Barre.
The Yankees promoted Green to the major leagues on May 14, 2016. He made his major league debut on May 16. After being called up as a reliever, the Yankees shifted Green to the rotation. After four starts, the Yankees shut down Green for the season
after he suffered a sprained elbow ligament. He again started the 2017 season with The RailRiders but was quickly called up in May, Green ended the season with a 5–0 record, 1.83 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 69 innings as a reliever. He was 8-3 in 2018.
Green started the 2019 season struggling for the Yankees and was sent down to Scranton to figure things out. Since coming back, he was used as a reliever a few times, but his main job is that of an opener for the Yankees. This need was caused by the injured Luis Severino and other injured starting pitchers, to the point, they didn’t have a five-man rotation.
The opener was popular and successful with the Tampa Rays. The opener role is to start a game but only pitch an inning or two in a role similar to a closer. Then the bullpen finishes the rest of the game. The Yankees have also been successful with this opener format winning 11 of 12 starts with Chad Green as the primary opener with great success. He has appeared in 41 games allowing only 25 earned runs. He has two saves as a reliever and a season 4.69 ERA but an ERA as an opener of just 2.53.
New York Yankee Field Manager Aaron Boone prizes Green as he can use him in so many ways. As I pointed out earlier he can be used as a starter/opener if Boone chooses to do so or someone in the normal rotation is ill or injured. He can use him as a middle or short reliever, and can even use him to close games if necessary. Last season he ended with an ERA of 4.17 over 69 innings pitched and he saved two games on the season. This shortened spring training he pitched in only four games, but with an excellent 2.25 ERA. He has great mental toughness and doesn’t get shook. Because of his pitching versatility, he is Aaron Boone’s ace in the hole.
Chad is now 28 years old, he stands 6’3″, he weighs 210 pounds. He was married to his long time girlfriend wife Jenna in 2014. He is very private about this life. He has a dog but there is no news about offspring. Both he and his wife love traveling. It is reported that he lives in the New York area.
EmpireSportsMedia.com’s William Parlee is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research.