The Cincinnati Reds announced that they’ve sent catcher Tyler Stephenson to Triple-A to begin a rehab assignment. A little less than a month ago Stephenson was hit by a foul ball on his non-glove hand while behind the plate and suffered a broken thumb. He had been red hot at the plate coming into that game, racking up four straight multi-hit games with two doubles, a home run, and seven runs driven in during that stretch.
At the time of the injury the question many were asking was whether or not Stephenson would be an All-Star. He was hitting .305/.361/.468 on June 9th when he was injured. While Brandon Drury seems like the Reds All-Star representative at this point, Stephenson was having an All-Star caliber season prior to his injury.
Fun fact: When Tyler Stephenson takes the field for the Louisville Bats he will be making his Triple-A debut. He played in Double-A for all of 2019 and then thanks to the pandemic he spent 2020 at the alternate site with a handful of games in Cincinnati. Then in 2021 he made the big league club out of spring training and never looked back.
Tyler Naquin’s big night on rehab
Tyler Stephenson won’t be the only Tyler in Triple-A on rehab for the Reds. Tyler Naquin has been with the Louisville Bats for three games and he had another big night on Sunday as he went 2-4 with a double and a triple.
It seems that Tyler Naquin is doing all that he can to show the front office that he’s ready to go. In his three games he’s gotten on base seven times, doubled, tripled, homered, walked three times, and driven in two runs. He’s hitting .444/.583/1.111, good for an OPS of 1.694 so far.
Cincinnati could certainly use another bat or two on the roster. They’ve been struggling of late, including being 1-hit over the weekend by the Braves on a day that followed them scoring just one run the day before.
Great news! Both he and Naquin should be in the starting lineup for the Bats tonight. Will watch the game.
Warren to the IL and they recall a catcher? I’m guessing it’s to remove him from the 40 when he’s sent back down
Stephenson is a great young player
Reds doing what Reds do.
Farmer is wearing a soft cast and wont be available.
Obvious Farmer got hit hard…should have put him on 10 day IL but that topple the apple cart for the Bell and the Clubhouse.
Barrero isn’t getting a chance with Bell any time soon. If Farmer goes on the IL, he doesn’t have an excuse.
Yeah no reason he couldn’t bat 9th and help out defensively with his size and range. Reynolds is decent, but not a SS.
I got hit on the hand in high school by 86 mph and thought I broke it and went to the ER. Wasnt broken but it also didn’t get better in 48 hours. Reds control the narrative no matter what. It’s why Schrock wont be allowed an opportunity at DH…then what? Moose has to sit? Farmer will never not play SS or be replaced by someone who in the long term is his replacement until the Reds deem it so.
Moose and Farmer will only be replaced by journeyman guys for a game or 2…..never future replacements because it might threaten and advance the time frame and Reds are controlling that.
Yeah Barrero is sporting that fine .207 avg at aaa.That’s all the Reds need is another guy who can’t hit
We get your hate for Barrero, Burt, but like it or not, he is a great defender with elite range. Even if he can’t hit (which he can and will as he continues to get ABs after his injury), he would still be an upgrade for the Reds. The play I saw him make Friday in Toledo was a ball Farmer wouldn’t have been in the same zip code as. I know you hate that Reds fans love his electric talent (not sure why unless your last name is Farmer), but even if he never hits in the majors like he did in the minors (which was great last year), a Reds fan should still be excited about his play in the field. You just like to be contrary since so many like him.
He needs to take his throwing hand and place it behind his back like Bench did so that way he won’t have anymore foul tips.
this would have been a good opportunity to DL Farmer and bring up Barerro. He is a slick fielder and boy could we use some better infield defense. Besides the bullpen, Our infield defense is probably my 2nd biggest disappointment this year. I knew we wouldn’t hit much and the young pitchers would take a lot of lumps in their 1st year but the infield defense is absolutely terrible. Barerro would fix some of that.
The Toledo CF was really struggling fielding the two Naquin’s shots. If there were an averaged CF playing maybe Naquin had stayed hitless…