Reds option Tyler Stephenson to the Prasco Park roster

What a Major League debut it was for Tyler Stephenson on Monday night. The Cincinnati Reds top position prospect came off of the bench late in the game, taking over behind the plate in the 7th inning and helped fuel a near comeback, homering on his first swing, singling in his next at-bat, and then drawing a bases loaded walk for another run batted in in the 9th inning.

His stay in the Major Leagues only lasted a few days, though. This afternoon the Cincinnati Reds, Mike Moustakas, and Nick Senzel won their appeal with Major League Baseball to have them reinstated and eligible to play after reporting symptoms that could have been related to COVID-19 on Sunday, but never tested positive and haven’t had those symptoms since Sunday. Major League Baseball was still keeping them ineligible to return despite multiple negative tests since then, but the appeal went through. Moustakas, unlike Senzel, was placed on the injured list as a result of his symptoms. Now that he’s back on the team a roster move was required and that move was to send Tyler Stephenson back to the Prasco Park roster.

The Reds had also gotten back catcher Tucker Barnhart this week after he spent several days on paternity leave after the birth of his child over the weekend. With Barnhart, who is starting tonight, Curt Casali, and Kyle Farmer on the roster – carrying a 4th catcher didn’t make the most sense in the world even with a 30-man roster for another week-and-a-half at the Major League level. This likely won’t be his only experience in the big leagues this season. As a catcher, opportunities tend to arise simply due to the nature of playing the position – guys take a beating behind the plate and unfortunately that means guys get injured more often than their other position player counterparts.

Updated Cincinnati Reds Prasco Park Roster