July 23: The Reds have officially placed Stephenson on the 10-day injured list with a broken right clavicle. They have recalled catcher Mark Kolozsvary to claim his roster spot, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter). Kolozsvary, 26, has appeared in seen games this season for the Reds, going 1-for-11 at the plate.
July 22: Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson broke his clavicle during today’s contest against the Cardinals, the team informed reporters (including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). There is no timetable for his return.
Stephenson suffered the injury when he took a Paul Goldschmidt foul tip off his right shoulder area. Later in the at-bat, Goldschmidt hit a tapper in front of home plate. Stephenson fielded the ball but went down in pain as he reared back to throw the ball to first base. He was then replaced by Michael Papierski.
It’s an all too familiar occurrence for Stephenson, who has been knocked out of a game on three separate occasions this year. He suffered a concussion in a home plate collision with Luke Voit in April. That cost him a couple weeks of action. A month later, he was hit by a foul tip on his throwing hand and fractured his thumb. He lost a month to that injury, returning a bit before the All-Star Break. He’s now in for another extended absence, and it remains to be seen if the remainder of his 2022 season could be in jeopardy.
The injuries have interrupted what has looked like a breakout season for the former first-round pick. Stephenson had an impressive 2021 campaign, hitting .286/.366/.431 across 402 plate appearances. Cincinnati dealt Tucker Barnhart to the Tigers to clear the path to everyday playing time behind the dish, and Stephenson has responded with a .319/.372/.482 showing through 183 trips to the plate. He’s looked like one of the sport’s top backstops when healthy, but a trio of fluky injury issues look as if they’ll cost him a good chunk of time.
This dude only catches breaks.
He never catches a break, what do you mean?
Come on, dawg. Don’t make me explain the joke, it’s a single sentence.
Curse of the breakout Reds catcher. Devin Mesoraco says hello
And 2006 David Ross
oh wow yeah.. really thought be was going to be above average at minimum.
Tell Devin I say “Hi”
Thats’s…not good.
Yeah this guy is cursed.
First base here he comes!
Oh boy I wouldn’t want to be Paul Goldshmidt right now. I’m sure Tommy Pham is hunting him down to beat the snot out of him. That Tommy Pham is a bad dude.
One more time — move Stephenson to a less dangerous position or make him the DH until Votto decides to hang ’em up. He’s too valuable offensively to let him miss 40 or 50 games a year or more with catching injuries, concussions, etc.
Good luck convincing the worst ran team in professional sports that !
If you got a player who bats in your top 5 – he can’t be an everyday catcher. It’s impossible to keep your catching and hitting performance up to speed for several years and all these guys just get burnt out. From Mauer to posey to realmuto – they always fall short of a full career.
Reds need to trade for a catcher when unloading Castillo or mahle
No joke man! You have a team that is not competitive; what advantage are you gaining by playing him at catcher right now? This is not a contending team and him playing catcher should be considered a luxury, one the reds damn sure can’t afford right now, or probably next year either
Everything you just said is why Yadier Molina is a hall of fame catcher. So it seems everyone except for the Reds understand that dude needs to play a different position
I agree. They are the worst ran team in baseball. Good luck with them doing anything right including trading Castillo, Drury and Mahle. They will get hosed once again.. .
He’s a good hitter for a catcher. He’s a fair hitter if you move him to 1B or DH (granted that’s better than what they’re currently getting) so you lose a ton of value if you move him permanently off the dish. Next year I would have him play 80 catching, 30 DH, and 30 at 1B or some similar split
A good hitter at catcher…he wouldn’t be any less of a hitter at any other position. Your comments aren’t logical.
Joe’s comments are quite logical. It’s rare to have a good hitting catcher, much less an excellent hitting catcher. You move TS to first base and his hitting is just ordinary. Johnny bench might not have been a HOFr at 3B or 1B.
Wholeheartedly agree. The kid can play but the team has to put him in a position to stay healthy.
Or make Votto the permanent DH and Tyler can play first.
Guess I’m playing Cal Raliegh every day now. JFC this guy is glass
Senzel is glass. This poor guy is a breathing broken mirror with a pet black cat named Lucky
While all can’t be men of steel like you, I’m guessing he’s in no worse shape than you’d be in if Goldschmidt fouled a ball into your clavicle at the same speed.
Oh, you’re totally correct, I’m just being an ass. Poor guy plays his ass off, I’m a huge fan, Just fantasy frustration
As my good friends The Who once sang, “You are forgiven.”
Please say hi to Pete for me
“Tyler Stephenson Fractures Clavicle”
Nope. Paul Goldschmidt’s foul tip fractures Tyler Stephenson’s clavicle.
1B !!!!!
I love having a catcher that produces offensive numbers like he does but he has to stay in the lineup. DH or spell Votto at first until 2024. Catchers value is mostly defensive anyway.
Let Tyler play first and let Votto be the permanent DH.
Dumb question but at 6’4” 225 lbs is Stephenson’s catcher’s gear big enough to fully protect him?
He’s a very large individual. I’m certain whoever makes his gear would custom fit the chest protector/shin guards for optimum safety though.
That’s not a dumb question. I wonder if it could be possible.
Put him at first , trade votto or cut him
From a Brewer fan, sorry to see him injured again! I like seeing him play! God Bless him in his recovery!
The problem with moving him to another position is the lineup will be weaker because the catcher position will probably be light-hitting. Maybe he’s just getting all of his injuries out of the way early in his career. Many catchers actually do perform for years with few/minor injuries. But Votto is nearing the end, so maybe he’ll wind up at 1st.
Absolute cheap shot by Paul Goldschmidt. Knowing that Tyler was already hurt, Mr 301 HR boy decides to tap one out in front making Stephenson throw. Dirty play and I expect the Reds to counter
I saw nothing to indicate that.
The Pirates cut Michael Perez loose yesterday, could be a possible pickup for the short-term.
Actually, never mind him as an option…just saw on here the Mets picked him up.
Can anyone please explain the logic in only placing him on the 10 day and not the 60 day? Do the Reds really think there’s a chance he’s back on the field before 60 days
Just put him on the shelf and open the 40 man
It doesn’t matter either way. They’ll move him to the 60-day the next time they need a 40-man spot. Whenever that does happen, timetable for the 60 days will be retroactive to today.
Clavicle injuries don’t take two months to heal. I broke mine as a kid falling off a swing. Hurt a whole lot, but I was okay after a couple of weeks in a sling. He’ll probably be fine in 3-4 weeks. maybe 6 at most.
Six weeks and the season is almost over.
You still would have 3+ weeks left. If you are the Reds, you NEED to see whether he can handle it or whether you need to find someone else to build around. Is he a long term building block or is he Devin Mesoraco? The quicker you answer that question, the better.
That trainer should be fired immediately. There was no reason for Stephenson to stay in that game without at least attempting to throw the ball to see if he had any damage. Seeing him crumble while a ball is in play is nothing that people in the stands needed to see. Especially kids. I know clavicle injuries are not severe or life threatening by any means, but if the trainer missed THIS, what else could he miss?
Don’t put him through trying to throw the ball before leaving the game. You could tell that he was in considerable pain. That would be kinda crazy.
That is my point. The trainer should have had him attempt to throw before the trainer ever left the field. Any medical professional should now that. It was horribly irresponsible to leave him in there without fully checking his injury.
Reported by Bobby nightingale and now Steve storms with the weather 🙂
Nick Senzel 2
On the bright side, these injuries seem to be of the “freak” variety — none are connected to each other. They don’t appear to be offer any long-term concern. Hopefully Stephenson can have a little more luck on his side moving forward; he’s an outstanding talent!
I think the Reds need to give up on this piece of peanut brittle and trade him to the Dodgers.