Cincinnati Reds have found a long reliever in former top prospect Robert Stephenson

The Cincinnati Reds finally reap the reward of patience with former prospect Robert Stephenson.

The Cincinnati Reds just have one more hurdle for former top prospect Robert Stephenson to get over in his development.  Stephenson has yet to have a season where he was consistent appearance to appearance.

Last season Stephenson averaged 4 2/3 innings per start with the Reds over his 8 starts.  He averaged a full inning more at 5 2/3 innings per start over his 24 Triple-A starts last season.  The previous year in Louisville he averaged five innings even.  The Reds should have left him in Louisville for all of 2016.

That’s why the Reds think they have found their long reliever.  Stephenson just needs to get through the batting order once every time out allowing a run or less for him to be successful.  Last year Tim Adleman came up and averaged 5 1/3 innings as a starter and the Reds see something like that potentially happening again this season with two rookies in the rotation.

Stephenson was clearly wearing down towards the end of the season.  His time with Cincinnati last year was the only time in his professional career that he had an ERA over 5.00.  He was looking tired in Louisville before his second call up and he looked exhausted once he came back up to Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Reds need Stephenson to continue to develop even though he is opening the season in the bullpen.

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Stephenson could very well have his best season as a professional.  As the long reliever, he will start the season in the bullpen.  That is an opportunity to cull information off of Tony Cingrani and Drew Storen, not wasted time.

He needs to reestablish his strikeout rate from the low minors.  Usually, strikeout rates remain relatively similar as a pitcher climbs to the majors, especially for a top prospect.  Stephenson needs to unravel what is happening on this front.

2016 saw the most innings and most batters faced for Stephenson in his career.  That helps to explain the fatigue, but it doesn’t explain everything.  He gave up far and away his most home runs allowed in any of his professional seasons too.

This may be make or break time for Stephenson.  His secondary stats early in his career projected a future ace, but now he looks solidly like a number five starter instead.  Whether he turns the corner may depend on whether he is a fighter or not.

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For now, the Reds are just curious to see if he can hold onto his roster spot.  With Bronson Arroyo and Scott Feldman waiting in the rotation, this is all about Stephenson.  If he can’t make it this time, he may only earn one more chance at being a big league starter before the Reds move on.