Tyler Stephenson missed most of the 2016 season with a concussion injury in April that was followed up by a wrist injury that just wouldn’t heal. That wrist injury would require surgery. He would try to play through the injury several times during 2016, but wound up heading back to the disabled list in short order each time. In 39 games during last season with Dayton he would hit just .216/.278/.324. He was clearly not himself.
Entering the 2017 season healthy, Tyler Stephenson has looked like, and produced like a completely different player. Last night he racked up his third straight multi-hit game. In 17 games played this April, the 2015 1st round selection by the Cincinnati Reds is hitting .302/.397/.460. That comes with four doubles and two home runs. He has also walked eight times with 14 strikeouts in 73 plate appearances. Stephenson just looks so much better at the plate this year. The swing looks more fluid, he looks more confident in what he wants to swing at, and lay off of at the plate.
Other notes from around the Cincinnati Reds farm
Dilson Herrera started at second base last night for Louisville. It was the second straight night he played in the field. That’s the first time it has happened this season. He had been alternating between designated hitter and second base. It’s the third straight game at second, though there was an off-day between the 1st and 2nd start in that stretch.
Chris Okey could be turning things around for Daytona. From April 12th-22nd he went 0-26, but over the last three days he’s gone 5-11 with a double and a walk.
James Vasquez pitched yesterday for the Dayton Dragons. He’s a first baseman. His outing wasn’t great, but he did strike out two batters. Of course, he also gave up four hits, including a 2-run homer. He’s not a pitcher, so that doesn’t mean much. He joins Beau Amaral and Blake Butler as other Reds minor leaguers that are position players to pitch this season. Butler has the lead with a 0.00 ERA in his inning of work but Vasquez has the lead in strikeouts.
The Louisville Bats and Dayton Dragons have been getting on base. The Daytona Tortugas and Pensacola Blue Wahoos have not. The Bats as a team have a .332 on-base percentage with 70 walks and 129 strikeouts. That’s a heck of a strikeout-to-walk ratio for an entire team. Dayton’s on-base percentage is .322 with 74 walks and 162 strikeouts. For a team, that’s still pretty good. Pensacola has a .298 team on-base percentage with 73 walks and 179 strikeouts. That ratio is solid, but they are hitting .214, which drags down their OBP. Daytona has a .296 on-base percentage with a league worst (by far) 44 walks and 180 strikeouts. The ratio of strikeouts-to-walks is not good, at all. Hopefully that will improve as the season goes forward. As a sidenote that I saw while looking at this, the Tampa Yankees are hitting .201/.260/.281 as a team. They’ve scored 47 runs in 20 games.