Tyler Stephenson to the IL, Reds call up Will Banfield from AAA

Photo: Doug Gray

The Cincinnati Reds have placed catcher Tyler Stephenson on the 10-day injured list with a fractured left thumb. That move is retroactive to August 17th. Taking his place on the roster is Will Banfield, who had to be added to the 40-man roster before being added to the active roster. With Jake Fraley being designated for assignment this past week, Cincinnati had an open spot on the 40-man for Banfield.

Let’s start with Tyler Stephenson heading to the injured list. He’d been dealing with the thumb injury for a bit of time and over the weekend when Jose Trevino caught a day game after a night game against the Brewers it was noted by manager Terry Francona that Stephenson’s thumb was sore and he was just trying to get him an extra day of rest. That was two days after he had last played. If nothing else, we can assume that it took four plus days to diagnose a fractured thumb. And it may have been longer than that.

Now let’s turn our focus to Will Banfield. Signed as a minor league free agent in the offseason, he’s spent his 2025 season in Triple-A with Louisville. He’s caught in 64 games and served as the designated hitter in eight other games. At the plate things have gone….. poorly is the nicest way you can put it. The 25-year-old is hitting .220/.277/.304 with two home runs.

He has the ability to hit the ball hard – his max exit velocity this season is 112 MPH. But he just don’t hit the ball hard often enough. There’s not much in any of his splits to see somewhere that would be more beneficial to try and play him – he hasn’t hit lefties or righties this season. He has been hot over his last four games, going 8-16 with two doubles. That was preceded by an 0-24 slump from July 23rd through August 9th.

Behind the plate this season he’s thrown out 30% of attempted base stealers. He’s got a strong arm and routinely has had above-average pop times for Louisville.

We don’t yet know what the timeline is for Tyler Stephenson and how long he is expected to be out. But it seems likely that for however long that is, the Reds are likely going to ride Jose Trevino as much as they can get away with. For a team who struggles to do anything consistent on offense, Banfield’s struggles at the plate against minor league pitching doesn’t exactly seem like something that Cincinnati can afford to run out there any more than is absolutely necessary.

You can see the career stats for Will Banfield here.

Tyler StephensonWill Banfield