Earlier this week we found out that Robert Stephenson made the Cincinnati Reds roster. We also found out that he would be pitching out of the bullpen, at least to start the year. Dick Williams, the Reds General Manager has been adamant that the long term plan is to still use Robert Stephenson as a starter in the future. He joined the Enquirer beat writers on their latest podcast, which you should probably be listening to when you finish reading this article.
In an article by Zach Buchanan on Wednesday afternoon at the Enquirer where he profiled some of the younger pitchers, this part was tucked into the column:
So in his most recent bullpen session, he picked up a slider. He hopes it allows him to get ahead of hitters without having to throw a predictable fastball.
“The action on it right now I think is really good,” Stephenson said. “I just need to be able to locate it better. I think I’ll pick it up pretty quickly.”
This could be a very interesting development. I’ve made the comparison between Robert Stephenson and Homer Bailey before. Maybe this is just another part of that comparison. Homer Bailey arrived in the Majors with a curveball, but eventually it was scrapped mostly for a slider. It was when he picked up the slider that he turned his career around and became a quality big leaguer. Now, there were differences between the curveball thrown by Bailey (mid 70’s velocity) and the one thrown by Stephenson (low 80’s velocity). Bailey’s had a bigger breaking action to it, while Stephenson’s is a bit tighter of a curveball.
Homer Bailey isn’t the only Red in recent history to pick up a slider/cutter that has helped turn things around. Michael Lorenzen added a cutter that really added to his arsenal that helped propel him in 2016 in a relief role after really struggling as a starter in 2015. Rookie Davis added a slider this spring and all of the reports have been very positive about it.
For Robert Stephenson that means he’s now throwing a 4-seam fastball, splitter, curveball and a slider. For the past few years it’s been more about throwing strikes than pitch quality or selection. In the quote above you can see that he seems to understand that throwing pitches for strikes is key. That he feels good about it, and that he’ll pick things up quickly with it is probably good. He’s been quoted this spring saying that at times he thinks too much on the mound, so confidence in a new offering could be key in moving everything forward.