When Major League Baseball teams go on the road they can take up to three players with them to be ready to join the 30-man roster if needed for injury. If the team chooses to take three players, one of them must be a catcher. With the Cincinnati Reds getting ready to head to Detroit for their first road trip of the season on Friday, they will be taking Tyler Stephenson with them as a part of their road trip taxi squad. During his daily interview with the press, it sounded as if David Bell was implying that Stephenson would be the only player on the trip from the taxi squad.
The catching prospect was optioned back to the Prasco Park roster on Wednesday. In his Major League debut he came on as a late-inning defensive replacement, but thanks to a near comeback that he helped fuel, he wound up going 2-2 with a bases loaded walk, single, and a home run despite playing in just three innings.
The Reds will only be on the road for three days before returning to Cincinnati to play two games against Cleveland before turning around and heading to Cleveland and Milwaukee from the 5th through the 9th of August.
It was also announced, but not yet official, that left-handed starting pitcher Wade Miley will be heading to the injured list with a groin injury. Rather than make a roster move for one day, for a game that if the weather forecast holds true tonight isn’t even going to happen, the team will make the move on Friday and activate starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani. He will slide into the rotation to pitch on Saturday in Detroit and be followed by right-handed starter Tyler Mahle.