Draft and minor leagues The
Kansas City Royals selected Greinke in the first round, with the sixth overall selection, of the
2002 Major League Baseball draft. They felt Greinke was a polished player who could move quickly through their system. to sign with the Royals for a $2.5 million signing bonus. Greinke pitched in six
minor league games (five starts) for the Royals
farm teams in 2002: three games for the
Gulf Coast Royals, two for the
Low-A Spokane Indians, and two innings for the
High-A Wilmington Blue Rocks of the
Carolina League. He had a 3.97 ERA in innings. In 2003, Greinke opened the season with Wilmington, where he was 11–1 with a 1.14 ERA in 14 starts. Those numbers earned him spots on both the Carolina League mid-season and post-season all-star teams as well as Carolina League Pitcher of the Year award. The Blue Rocks'
manager, Billy Gardner, Jr., remarked that Greinke was "the best pitcher I've ever seen at this level of the minor leagues." He was promoted in July to the
Double-A Wichita Wranglers of the
Texas League, He had a couple of games where he struggled at Wichita and gave up a lot of runs. However, he bounced back and helped them make the playoffs with a victory in the final game of the season. He was promoted by the Royals in 2004 to the
Triple-A Omaha Royals of the
Pacific Coast League, where he was 1–1 with a 2.51 ERA in six starts.
Kansas City Royals (2004–2010) Greinke was called up to the major leagues on May 22, 2004, and made his major league debut against the
Oakland Athletics, allowing two earned runs in five innings. At 20 years old, he was the youngest player in the majors and came close to picking up the win, but the team's
closer,
Jeremy Affeldt, gave up the lead with two outs in the bottom of the
ninth inning. Greinke recorded his first career win on June 8, when he pitched seven scoreless innings against the
Montreal Expos. In 24 starts, Greinke finished the 2004 season with an 8–11 record and a 3.97 ERA. In 2005, Greinke led the American League in losses, finishing with a 5–17 record and a 5.80 ERA in 33 starts. Still, by the 2005–2006 off-season he nearly quit baseball; Greinke later remarked that, at the time, he did not expect to return. He left
spring training for personal reasons in late February 2006. It was later revealed that he was diagnosed with depression and a
social anxiety disorder. He reported back to the Royals' spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona, on April 17, where he underwent ongoing pitching sessions. He was placed on the 60-day
disabled list due to psychological issues and took time away from baseball entirely. He began seeing a
sports psychologist and taking
anti-depressant medication. In 52 appearances (14 starts), Greinke finished 2007 with a 7–7 record, one save, and a 3.69 ERA. After ending the 2008 season with 15 scoreless innings, Greinke started off 2009 by not allowing a run in his first 24 innings, which meant that for 39 innings in a row, he had not given up a run. Greinke was named
American League (AL)
Pitcher of the Month for April, his five wins, 0.50 ERA and 44 strikeouts all tops in the Majors. On August 25, Greinke struck out 15 batters, breaking
Mark Gubicza's team record for strikeouts in a single game. On August 30, Greinke had a one-hit complete game against the
Seattle Mariners. Greinke's record for the 2009 season was 16–8, and he posted an ERA of 2.16, the lowest in MLB. On October 28, Greinke was awarded the
MLBPA Players Choice AL Pitcher of the Year. On November 17, 2009, he won the AL
Cy Young Award. Greinke credited some of his performance to his use of "
modern pitching metrics" — statistics on team defense and
defense independent pitching statistics — to calibrate his own approach to pitching. Greinke specifically mentioned
FIP (fielding independent pitching), an indicator developed by
sabermetrician Tom Tango, as his favorite statistic. "That's pretty much how I pitch, to try to keep my FIP as low as possible. Despite a stellar 2009 season, his performance in 2010 began to regress as he finished the year 10–14 with a 4.17 ERA and 181 strikeouts. The Royals were unlikely to afford signing Greinke to a long-term deal once he became a free agent, so they agreed to trade him for some quality prospects. On December 19, he was traded to the
Milwaukee Brewers with
Yuniesky Betancourt and $2 million for
Alcides Escobar,
Lorenzo Cain,
Jeremy Jeffress, and
Jake Odorizzi. He was given the number 13, instead of his preferred number 23, due to number 23 already being issued to
Rickie Weeks. Greinke would later admit that he handled the trade request poorly, saying that he was "pretty rude" on the way out, but the deal worked out well for both teams. In February 2011, before reporting to his first
spring training with the Brewers, Greinke suffered a fractured rib while playing
basketball. He started the 2011 season on the disabled list. Greinke made his Brewers debut in the second game of a
doubleheader on May 4, 2011. Despite missing the first month of the season because of his injury, Greinke finished second on the team in wins with a 16–6 record in 28 starts. He also had a 3.83 ERA, and 201 strikeouts (seventh in the
National League (NL)) in 171 innings pitched while surrendering just 45 walks. Greinke became only the fifth Brewer pitcher to strike out 200+ batters in a season. He was fourth in the NL in won-lost percentage (.727) and sixth in wins. On April 7, 2012, the Brewers defeated the Cardinals 6–0 in Greinke's first start of the season after he pitched seven scoreless innings while giving up four hits and striking out seven. In an oddity, Greinke became the first pitcher to start three straight games in the Majors in 95 years. On July 7, he was ejected from the game after just four pitches for angrily throwing the ball into the ground following a close play at first base. The following day, Greinke started again, but lasted only until the third inning. The
All-Star break followed, and Greinke was the Brewers' starter on July 13, the team's next game. Greinke's third start ended after five innings. Before this, the most recent pitcher to start three consecutive games was
Red Faber in 1917, who started both games of a September 3 doubleheader, throwing just six innings in total, followed by a complete game win the following day. To begin 2012, Greinke made 21 starts with the Brewers and had a 9–3 record, 120 strikeouts, and a 3.44 ERA.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2012) Despite his success with the Brewers, the team was struggling and not likely to make a playoff run. When talks on a contract extension broke down, the team traded Greinke to the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on July 27, 2012, in exchange for top infield prospect
Jean Segura and pitchers
Ariel Peña and
Johnny Hellweg. Brewers
General Manager Doug Melvin remarked that it was one of the tougher decisions he had to make because he was fond of Greinke. After a stretch of four unproductive starts from August 3–19 (1–1, 7.20 ERA in 25 innings), Greinke followed up with four consecutive starts of at least seven innings and two or fewer runs — all of them wins. In those starts, he produced a 1.88 ERA in innings. He finished his time with the Angels with a 6–2 record and a 3.53 ERA in 13 starts. It was surpassed a year later by
Félix Hernández's seven-year, $175 million contract extension with the
Seattle Mariners. Greinke later explained that he chose the Dodgers over the
Texas Rangers, who also were pursuing him, primarily because they offered more money. On April 11, 2013, Greinke fractured his left collarbone in a brawl with
Carlos Quentin of the
San Diego Padres after Quentin was hit by an inside pitch and charged the mound. He was placed on the disabled list and it was revealed that he would require surgery, which was performed on April 13. It was estimated that he would miss eight weeks of the season. However, he returned to action on May 10 when he pitched in a rehab game for the Class-A
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. He returned to the Dodgers on May 15, tossing innings of one-run ball and striking out four to earn the win. On June 11, 2013, Greinke was hit in the head and neck area by
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher
Ian Kennedy, leading to a
bench-clearing brawl. Because Greinke did not participate in the brawl, he was unaffected. Greinke picked up his 100th career win on August 5, 2013, against the
St. Louis Cardinals. He was 5–0 with a 1.23 ERA during the month of August and was selected as
National League Pitcher of the Month. Greinke finished his first season with the Dodgers with a 15–4 record and 2.63 ERA in 28 starts. He also batted .328, the highest batting average for a Dodgers pitcher since
Orel Hershiser in the
1993 season. He was awarded with the
Silver Slugger Award as the best hitting pitcher in the National League. Greinke began the 2014 season by setting an MLB record with 22 straight starts (dating back to July 2013) where he allowed two or fewer
earned runs. He was selected to the National League squad at the
2014 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and finished the season with a 17–8 record and a 2.71 ERA in 32 starts, the highest win total in his career. When
Justin Upton of the
San Diego Padres homered against Greinke in the eighth inning on June 13,
2015, it was the last run he surrendered until the All-Star break. Greinke was then selected to the
All-Star Game, his second straight appearance, and chosen to be the starting pitcher for the National League squad. At that point in the season, Greinke carried a major league-leading 1.48 ERA with a 7–2 record. After Greinke retired 28 consecutive batters over a span of two starts,
Nationals outfielder Michael Taylor ended the streak in the third inning on July 19. Greinke's recorded a
scoreless innings streak which reached 45 innings; it started on June 18 and ended on July 26 start against the
New York Mets at
Citi Field and is the sixth-longest streak in MLB history. He shared the NL Player of the Week honors with his teammate
Clayton Kershaw for July 13–19. Greinke finished the 2015 season with a 19–3 record, 200 strikeouts, and a major-league-best 1.66 ERA. His ERA was the second lowest in Dodgers history behind
Rube Marquard in
1916, and his
ERA+ (225) and major-league-leading
WHIP (0.844) were the best in franchise history. He led all major league pitchers in
left on base percentage, stranding 86.5% of base runners. Greinke pitched in two games in the
2015 National League Division Series against the
New York Mets. He allowed five runs in innings and took the loss in the deciding fifth game in the series. At the conclusion of the series, it was announced that he would opt out of the last three years of his contract with the Dodgers and become a free agent. He officially opted out on November 3. After the season, Greinke was selected as the Outstanding National League Pitcher at the
Players Choice Awards, and won his second Gold Glove Award. Greinke finished second in the NL
Cy Young Award voting to
Jake Arrieta.
Arizona Diamondbacks (2016–2019) On December 8, 2015, Greinke signed a six-year, $206.5 million contract with the
Arizona Diamondbacks. Greinke started on Opening Day 2016 at
Chase Field against the
Colorado Rockies; he gave up seven runs in four innings, including two home runs to rookie shortstop
Trevor Story, who was making his MLB debut. The Diamondbacks lost the game 10–5. In his second start, on April 9, Greinke matched up against
Kyle Hendricks and the
Chicago Cubs. He allowed three runs in the first inning, and struggled through the rest of his outing. The Diamondbacks lost the game 4–2. Greinke got his first win as a Diamondback on April 19, 2016, against the San Francisco Giants, allowing just one run in over six innings of work. On July 3, 2016, Greinke was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to a left oblique strain. On August 24, 2016, he recorded his 2000th career strikeout in the Diamondbacks' 10–9 win over
Atlanta Braves. Greinke made 26 starts in his first season with Arizona, and he had a 13–7 record and a 4.37 ERA in innings. In
2017, Greinke was selected to the
NL All-Star team, his fourth All-Star selection. At the time of his selection he was 10–4 with a 3.05 ERA in innings, 128 strikeouts (10.21 strikeouts per nine innings), WHIP of 1.02 and a .219 opponents batting average. On September 16 versus the
San Francisco Giants at
AT&T Park, he completed eight shutout innings with two hits allowed and eight strikeouts as Arizona won, 2−0. His
game score of 90 was the second-best of his career, and he also hit two doubles at the plate. In 32 starts in 2017, Greinke finished with a 17–7 record, 215 strikeouts, and a 3.20 ERA in innings. Greinke was once again named an All-Star in 2018. He finished the season with a 15–11 record and a 3.21 ERA in 33 starts. Following the season, he won his fifth consecutive Gold Glove Award. On April 2, 2019, Greinke hit two home runs and struck out 10 as the Diamondbacks won 8–5 against the Padres. In 2019 with Arizona before he was traded, he was 10–4 with a 2.90 ERA.
Houston Astros (2019–2021) On July 31, 2019, the Diamondbacks traded Greinke to the
Houston Astros with cash considerations for four minor league prospects:
Corbin Martin,
J. B. Bukauskas,
Seth Beer, and
Joshua Rojas. The Diamondbacks also agreed to pay $24 million of Greinke's remaining $77 million salary. On September 14, 2019, against the
Kansas City Royals, Greinke became the 19th pitcher in MLB history to
win a game against all 30 MLB franchises. In
2019 with the Astros, he was 8–1 with a 3.02 ERA. He was pulled by manager
A. J. Hinch in the seventh inning after surrendering a one-out home run to
Anthony Rendon, followed by a walk to
Juan Soto, with the Astros leading 2–1. In
2020, Greinke produced a 3–3 record with a 4.03 ERA in 12 starts spanning 67 innings, and was second in the AL in walks per nine innings (1.209) and fourth in home runs per nine innings (0.806). On April 1,
2021, Greinke earned his first Opening Day win and 209th win overall as the Astros defeated the
Oakland Athletics, 8–1, at the
Oakland Coliseum. He pitched six scoreless innings, the 65th time his career he has produced at least six scoreless innings. In the May 25 contest versus the
Los Angeles Dodgers, he reached 3,000 career innings, the 135th pitcher in major league history to achieve this milestone. On June 4, 2021, Greinke threw a complete game for the first time since April 19, 2017. He allowed six hits with one run and one walk and three strikeouts in a 13–1 win over the
Toronto Blue Jays at
Sahlen Field in
Buffalo, New York. In 2021, Greinke finished with an 11–6 record and 4.16 ERA over 30 games (29 starts). In the
World Series versus the
Atlanta Braves, Greinke started Game 4, recording four scoreless innings. At the plate, he singled in the second inning to become the first Astros pitcher to get a hit in World Series play. In Game 5, he was called in as a
pinch hitter in the fourth inning and recorded a single, becoming the first pitcher to record a pinch hit in the World Series since
Jack Bentley in . On November 3, 2021, Greinke was declared a free agent.
Return to Kansas City Royals (2022–2023) Greinke expressed interest in finishing his career with the Royals, which he mentioned to
George Brett during the 2021-22 lockout. On March 16, 2022, Greinke signed a one-year, $13 million contract to return to the
Royals. On March 31, Greinke was announced as the Royals' Opening Day starter, the first time he'd been given the role for the Royals since 2010, marking the largest gap between Opening Day pitching starts for the same team. He made his 500th career start on June 29 versus the
Texas Rangers, going six innings in a 2−1 win. Greinke finished 4–9 with a 3.68 ERA in 26 starts with the Royals in 2022. On March 24, Greinke was named the Royals' Opening Day starter for the second consecutive year. On May 15, Greinke became the fifth pitcher (after
Nolan Ryan,
Randy Johnson,
Roger Clemens, and
Greg Maddux) to strike out 1,000 unique batters over his career. He became a free agent following the season. As of September 2025, Greinke had not officially announced retirement but had not pitched in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, last having pitched in October 2023. He is only 21 strikeouts short of 3,000, a milestone that only 20 MLB players have achieved. == Pitching style ==