The Cincinnati Reds offense has been led by Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, and Eugenio Suárez. These three have formed one of the better trios of hitters in the league this season. But beyond them, the Reds have been abysmal on offense.
Their offense is one of the worst units in the league. They rank at the bottom of baseball in OPS and runs scored, among plenty of other categories. A lot of players are struggling. Cincinnati hasn’t seen much production from its outfield. Matt McLain has struggled after being the hottest hitter in baseball during spring training.
To make matters worse, Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson has struggled to produce at the plate.
Tyler Stephenson Has Struggled for the Reds
Coming into Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Twins, Stephenson was slashing .178/.296/.311 with an OPS around .600, two home runs, no doubles, and only three runs scored across 16 games and 45 at-bats. He had posted an OPS of .737 last season and an OPS of .782 in 2024. But this season, he’s looked much worse.
The Reds need Stephenson to heat up in a big way. Their backup catcher, Jose Trevino, has been one of the worst offensive players in the league for the better part of a year. He’s a good defender, but he’s currently injured, so the pressure has been turned up on Stephenson. The Reds’ backup is PJ Higgins right now, who’s a solid defender, but doesn’t make much noise at the plate.
As a result, the Reds need Stephenson to break out this year. There’s good news for the Reds, though. Stephenson is seemingly on the verge of a major breakout.
Tyler Stephenson is on the Verge of a Major Breakout
While the results haven’t been there for the Reds catcher, he’s trending in the right direction. On Saturday, Stephenson barreled a ball for a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat. It was blistered at over 100 miles per hour. Later in the game, Stephenson smoked a single to score Eugenio Suárez.
On the season, there are a few traits to like about Stephenson right now. First of all, he’s hitting the ball hard. He’s in the 97th percentile in average exit velocity, with it sitting at 95.2 miles per hour. These hard-hit balls will eventually begin finding holes in the defense. That pairs well with his elite hard hit rate and his elite barrel rate.
Stephenson is also great at laying off bad pitches. His out-of-zone swing rate is only 13.7 percent, which ranks near the top of the league.
If he can continue to lay off bad pitches while crushing the good ones, the results will follow. He’s certainly trending in the right direction.
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