John Fay tweeted out, then had a short article up on the Cincinnati Enquirer’s website about the Reds keeping top prospect Robert Stephenson off of the mound for a few days.
“(He) will most likely be off the mound a couple of days behind because we want to make sure his shoulder is totally strong and he’s headed in a great direction,” Price said. “He won’t be throwing on the side today if you’re looking for him. He’s a couple of days behind because we want to be cautious, and that’s it.”
It doesn’t sound serious, but there is always a small bit of concern when someone mentions shoulder and taking time off because of it. The only injury that Stephenson has had in him minor league career has been when he tweaked his hamstring in the middle of the 2013 season while pitching in Dayton. That injury cost him exactly one month of time, but that’s been the extent of his injury history to this point.
As noted above, the Reds don’t seem too concerned and we probably shouldn’t be either. With pitchers, it’s better to be cautious and that seems to be the plan that the organization is taking. Time will tell where this goes, and if he’s not throwing in a week, then we can start to wonder. For now, it’s not sounding like much.