Like most players drafted right out of high school, Cincinnati Reds No. 1 prospect Robert Stephenson has taken time to adjust to professional baseball. And while coaching and fine-tuning can help with mechanics and pitch-placement, Stephenson just naturally has what every team is looking for in a pitcher; power.
Stephenson lives in the high 90s and has, at time hit triple digits on the gun as he’s perefected his game over the last four seasons. The right-hander was drafted at No. 27 in the first round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft out of AlhambraHigh School in Martinez, Calif.
Stephenson made his Double-A debut two seasons ago with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos towards the end of the season and spent all last year with the team, ending the year with a 7-10 record and a 4.74 ERA. His 140 strikeouts was a career best.
“It made me a little more mature as far as what I needed to work on coming into this year,” Stephenson said. “I got it under control a lot better than I did last year. Last season I was trying to overpower people and I realized that’s not going to work here. It’s more about being down in the zone and being to execute pitches.”
Sunday’s game between the Tennessee Smokies and Pensacola was rained out, so Stephenson has only made one appearance this year, going 5.2 innings with four hits, three runs, two walks and seven strikeouts in a loss.
“The hitters are a lot more patient at the higher levels,” Stephenson said. “They won’t chase as much. That’s been an adjustment for me. In Low-A, I got a lot of guys to chase stuff out of the zone. My walks then were lower then and my strikeouts were higher. I need to move it more in the zone and be consistent.”
As prized a prospect as Stephenson has been in the Reds organization, the No. 1 ranking still comes with a lot of expectations. Something that Stephenson has put out of his mind as he begins what is likely his last Double-A campaign.
“I try not to pay too much attention to it,” Stephenson said. “I just try to work on what I need to work on. I want get quick outs and keep my walks down. As long as I do that, I should be able to move up sooner than later.”
Leaving Stephenson in the starting rotation in Pensacola instead of moving him to the bullpen for quick advancement shows they’re playing the long game with their prized right-hander. What is surprising, at least so far, is that the Reds haven’t at least put Stephenson on their 40-man roster. If he stays in the minors all season and isn’t at least added to the 40-man, he’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft after the season is over. Since there’s no way that will happen, the Reds are likely dangling him out there for a trade, or looking to move another pitcher at the major league level to make room for Stephenson before the season ends.
Stephenson has been honing his craft, working on a repertoire beyond his fastball. He already had a good, 70 mph-ish curve and his struggles with developing a change-up seem to be behind him.
“I’ve been happy with my change-up this year,” Stephenson said. “I think it’s come a long way. That’s been one of the things that I was working on this offseason.”
Stephenson could take the whole Double-A season to do it, but the most likely scenario as I see it is he works out the kinks in his change-up and lowers his walks in the first half before advancing to the Triple-A Louisville Bats after the All-Star break. That’s probably when he’ll end up on the Reds’ 40-man too.
Thoughts on Jesse Winker
The Reds No. 3 prospect didn’t break any bats in his four games against the Smokies. In fact, he’s struggled all season, with really only two games of note and a lot of zeros in the hits column along the way. Winker comes into the new week with a .222 batting average, two doubles and just one RBI. Winker had 21 games in Double-A last year and put up similar numbers, finishing with a .208. He might be staying in Pensacola for a while.
