The Cincinnati Reds announced that right handed pitcher Jackson Stephens will make his Major League debut on Saturday as the starting pitcher against the Chicago Cubs. This won’t be the first time that the organization has called up Stephens, but in his previous call up he didn’t get into a game.
On the season he’s posted a 4.97 ERA in 15 games for the Louisville Bats. On the surface, that doesn’t look so good. And for the totality of it, it’s not. But, that stat line doesn’t tell the whole story. Over his first there starts the International League gave Jackson Stephens a very rude welcome. He posted a 10.13 ERA in 13.1 innings, allowing 21 hits, four home runs and he walked seven batters.
In the 12 games since then he’s posted a 3.88 ERA in 62.2 innings pitched, allowing just five home runs, walking 26 batters and striking out 46. There have been some inconsistent performances mixed into that stretch, but his overall numbers are still recovering from that first two week stretch of the season.
Jackson Stephens Scouting Report
Jackson Stephens fastball works in the low 90’s and it’ll touch 94-95 on occasion. There’s a little bit of armside run on the pitch. His go-to pitch is a 74-76 MPH curveball. It’s a big looping pitch that will flash itself as an above-average offering at times. He will utilize it against right handed hitters most of the time. When facing lefties he will go to his change up. It’s a fringe-average offering that works in the mid 80’s that has some sink/run to it, but can be a bit firm at times. He will also mix in a slider at times.
On the year he’s thrown strikes 64% of the time, though he’s had some games where he was below 60%. Jackson Stephens is not going to blow guys away with his fastball, and while his curveball is a quality pitch, it’s not an elite one that’s going to dominate big leaguers. To be successful he’s going to need to avoid the games where he’s struggled to find the strikezone. He’s done that over his last three starts for the Louisville Bats.
Minor League releases
The Cincinnati Reds released several players over the last week. The biggest one happened earlier today when the team released catcher Rob Brantly. In 46 games this season with the Bats he was hitting .298/.335/.435. He had also thrown out 31% of attempted base stealers and only allowed one passed ball in 342.1 innings behind the plate.
They also released right handed pitcher Nick Christiani, infielder Manny Cruz and outfielders Edgar Herrera and Leon Landry.
Podcasting again
On Wednesday evening I joined Reed Ketring on his podcast for 1410 AM in Dayton to talk a little bit about the Cincinnati Reds and the farm system. It’s just under 10 minutes, so if you’re into that kind of thing, go give it a listen.
Trading Zack Cozart?
The Cincinnati Reds have been in a bind much of this season as Zack Cozart has been having the best year of his life, but no contender has had a need for a shortstop. That all changed when the Washington Nationals lost Trea Turner to injury.
They current’y lead the NL East by 9.5 games over Atlanta, so they may not feel a need to truly pay a lot as they are probably quite safe in terms of losing their lead. But if they do want to make a move, Zack Cozart is likely to be a prime target. He’s on a short term deal, he’s played very well this season, he’s got an established relationship with their current manager and he’s relatively cheap.
The Nationals farm system is solid and there are pieces in there that you would like to target. They could also use some relief pitching and the Reds certainly have that as well, if Washington really wanted to step up and offer back an elite level prospect such as Victor Robles. To get a player back like that, the Reds would probably have to offer up one of Michael Lorenzen or Raisel Iglesias in return, which may be a non-starter for the organization. The Reds and Nationals do seem to be a good match up in terms of big league needs/wants, though.