The Cincinnati Reds lineup might get a key bat back from the injured list for the big weekend series against the New York Mets, and the pitching staff might get a big arm back soon after that, barring setbacks.
If it’s not too little, too late, it could provide back-to-back boosts to their long-shot playoff chase.
Chase Burns
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Catcher Tyler Stephenson, who’s playing with a protective sleeve over a fracture on the tip of his glove hand, opened his minor-league rehab assignment Sept. 3 with a home run in his first at-bat for Triple-A Louisville and caught seven innings without apparent issue.
He’s expected to bat as the designated hitter in Louisville’s game Sept. 4 then be reevaluated.
“There’s a chance he comes back Friday,” manager Terry Francona said, “because he hasn’t been gone that long. We’ll see.”
That’s the day the series opens against the Mets, the team the Reds are chasing for the National League’s final playoff spot.
Cincinnati Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson shows the plastic protective thumb guard a specialist created to help allow him to catch with a fracture in the tip of his thumb.
Stephenson injured the thumb in a “super random” event on a pitch from Hunter Greene three weeks ago.
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Meanwhile, hard-throwing rookie Chase Burns came out of a two-inning simulated game on Sept. 2 well and is scheduled for a longer sim game Sept. 6, after which the next step could be a decision on when he returns from the IL.
Burns has been sidelined for much of the past four weeks because of a Grade 1 flexor strain.
The right-hander with a 100-mph fastball has a 5.24 ERA in eight starts since making his debut against the New York Yankees in June – 3.72 in the last six of those starts, including 10 strikeouts in four of his past five (the exception being the rain-shortened Speedway Classic game in Bristol, Tennessee).
The expectation is he would go to the Reds’ bullpen when he returns from the IL, but he said nobody has told him that yet.
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Just getting back and finishing the season is the big thing.
“I feel like I’ve been learning a lot,” he said. “So I want to get back in there and help the team win and try to make this playoff push.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds injury news on Tyler Stephenson and Chase Burns