Tyler Stephenson may have become the Reds’ most valuable trade chip at exactly the right time.
The market is thin on catchers, especially right-handed-hitting ones, and Stephenson has caught fire just as the deadline approaches. Cincinnati’s impending free-agent backstop has surged enough to put himself in the middle of the trade conversation before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline.
The timing matters. A number of clubs are looking for help behind the plate - the Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers among them - and the supply has thinned fast.
Some of the names that looked available may no longer be in play, with the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers injured and the Minnesota Twins’ Ryan Jeffers on a team that is buying. That could leave Stephenson as the best option left standing for a team desperate to upgrade.
One league source, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal talks, said his team had wanted a catcher with stronger offensive production but now views Stephenson as a more realistic target than before Langeliers’ injury and the Twins’ moves.
Stephenson has done plenty to help his case. The Reds’ first-round pick in 2015 homered on Father’s Day at Yankee Stadium, a swing he later described as a turning point.
In a fourth-inning at-bat against Yankees starter Elmer Rodríguez, Stephenson jumped on a 3-1 fastball and sent it 401 feet into the Reds’ bullpen. He said the moment made everything click.
“When I hit the home run, I just felt like, ‘There it is,'” Stephenson said before Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. “It felt repeatable. … I felt good with it.”
From that homer through Friday’s game against the Pirates, when he opened the scoring with an RBI double off Paul Skenes, Stephenson has hit .350/.429/.563 in 91 plate appearances over 25 games.
His recent run has been even better than that broader stretch suggests. Since June 7 - the night he went 3-for-3 on the road against the St.
Louis Cardinals - Stephenson has slashed .343/.413/.537 in 34 games. In 11 games since the All-Star break, he’s batting .343/.452/.657.
The climb is stark when stacked against where he was earlier. Stephenson carried a .188 average into that Cardinals game and entered Saturday at .252 for the season.
Francona said he noticed a mechanical adjustment that helped get Stephenson rolling again. The Reds manager explained that Stephenson began closing his stance more before opening up, a change that has helped him square the ball up more consistently.
“Now he’s so much more square, and it just works better,” Francona said.
Stephenson said the adjustment has let him settle in and stop fixating on the early-season hole he had dug.
“There was a lot of trial and error of stuff; finally I had that one swing where it’s there,” Stephenson said. “I remember telling my wife that it’s so weird that one swing and one thing could do that.
That’s all it takes sometimes. You can do all this stuff and just feel so bad.
“It only takes one. That’s what’s so weird about this game.”
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