The Cincinnati Reds promoted top prospect Robert Stephenson to Triple-A Louisville last week. The right hander made his Louisville Bats debut on Friday night in a double header at Louisville Slugger Field in the second game against the Columbus Clippers. The game could have gotten out to a better start for Stephenson as he began to warm up in a downpour and four pitches into the game the players were pulled off of the field and the tarp was brought on. After nearly a full hour the game resumed and Stephenson took the mound once again.
The right hander picked up the win in his first start for the Bats, tossing five innings and allowing two runs on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts. He noted after the game that he had a hard time getting a good grip on the ball at times, something that Tony Cingrani also made note of on the rainy and humid day.
Stephenson mixed his pitches well on the night, using his fastball, change up and curveball throughout the start. You can watch some of his early work in this video:
Scouting Report
[private_subscriber]
There was plenty to like in the game, but as he noted, there were some things to keep working on as well.
Fastball | For the most part he was sitting at 93-95 MPH and he touched 96 once that I saw. It shows some late life that runs in on right handers and away from lefties.
Curveball | It was an above-average offering on the night, showing good 11-5 breaking action in the 78-81 MPH range.
Change Up | The pitch worked in the 85-86 MPH range on the night and showed some late sinking action that was an average to slightly above-average offering.
On the night it was control that was holding Stephenson back. While his control wasn’t bad, it wasn’t where it had been at times over the last six weeks. Perhaps that was due to the weather issues on the night, but the curveball was a pitch that he had problems locating for strikes at times. When it was on, guys couldn’t touch it, but the pitch missed a little too often to really put guys away like it has in the past. The improved change up is what stood out to me the most. This was the first time I had seen Stephenson since last August and the pitch has come a very long way in that span. He’s clearly more confident in the pitch and for good reason. The pitch isn’t nearly as firm as it used to be, it’s got better movement and the feel is just much better.
Throwing strikes is going to be the biggest key for the right hander moving forward. It’s been a struggle at times in the past, but despite three walks on Friday night in 5.0 innings, the control wasn’t a big problem on the night overall. He’s shown that he can make better in-game adjustments when he starts to struggle with control of late and that’s something he hadn’t been able to do in the past. When Stephenson is able to throw his pitches in the strikezone, he’s going to be able to dominate hitters. The fastball and curveball combination has been enough to pile up strikeouts in the past, but the improved change up gives him a true third weapon to go to. Last season when he was unable to throw his curveball for strikes he had to rely solely on the fastball and it led to issues of being predictable and hittable. This season the hit rate is down and the strikeout rate is up and it’s because he’s got a third pitch that can get results and just as importantly, a third pitch that he trusts to throw.
[/private_subscriber]