The metrics behind Stephenson's evolution at catcher

This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon’s Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CINCINNATI – During the 2024 season's final homestand, after the Reds were well out of contention, catcher Tyler Stephenson was on the field early and firing throws to second base from behind the plate. Another day that late September, Stephenson was making throws while surrounded by 3D cameras.

"Our sports science people were doing a throwing assessment thing to see where I’m at right now and what strides and adjustments we can make in the offseason," Stephenson said on Sept. 22. "Hopefully I can clean up some throwing stuff. I want to get back to before, where I felt like I was a really good thrower."

Later in that day's game vs. the Pirates, Stephenson made a perfect throw to second base that cut down Bryan De La Cruz trying to steal.

After a 2022 season marred by injuries and limited to 50 games and a 2023 in which he split catching duties with time at first base and designated hitter, Stephenson was almost exclusively behind the plate in 2024.

Stephenson, 28, led all National League catchers with 127 games behind the plate (112 starts). His 1,001 innings caught were the most by a Reds catcher since Joe Oliver in 1993. On the offensive side, he batted .258 with a .782 OPS, 19 home runs, 66 RBIs and 2.4 bWAR in 138 games.

"To get through the year of the at-bats and reps behind the plate, it’s huge. That’s everything to be out there. The in-game reps are the most important," Stephenson said.

Stephenson has long been viewed as an offense-first catcher, but he has been trying to change that narrative.

"I’ve taken a lot of pride in it," Stephenson said. "I got to Arizona early [last winter] to try and spend as much time with the guys as possible. I’ve been fortunate to catch a lot. The more reps, the better. The more at-bats, the more pitches you see. I think it’s just growth within the game that it’s really slowed down. We do our reports and have our cards and everything, but your eyes will tell you the best. I try to read everything and make adjustments on the fly. It’s a game of chess out there."

When it came to Statcast's fielding run value, which includes defensive metrics like blocking, throwing and framing, Stephenson was below average at -3. The Giants' Patrick Bailey led MLB at +22. But that -3 for Stephenson was a big jump from the -11 he had in 2023.

Stephenson was also below average at blocking and caught-stealing throws.

Ditto for catcher framing runs, but there was a nice jump from 2023 to 2024.

Although Stephenson got worse at framing high strikes, he showed positive progress at the low strikes, especially low-middle (Zone 18). He was second-worst in MLB in that area in '23, but he improved in '24.

Stephenson also switched crouching styles in 2024. He received pitches in the traditional "both knees up" manner only two percent of the time, compared to 45 percent in 2023. He had his left knee up and right knee down 92 percent of the time last season.

"I made some sacrifices this year," he said. "I know it’s being on the knee full time. There were strides in receiving. I want to get back to being a good thrower, which I know I can be."

The one area where Stephenson really seemed to improve lacks a true metric: Game calling. Pitchers appeared to be much more comfortable working with him in 2024 than in years prior. He caught 15 of Hunter Greene's 26 starts during the right-hander's first All-Star season. Greene had worked mostly with veteran backups Luke Maile and Curt Casali in 2023. Stephenson also caught the vast majority of games for Nick Martinez during his career year that earned him the Reds' Pitcher of the Year award from the local BBWAA chapter.

Stephenson caught five of the team's eight shutout wins.

"You have a homegrown catcher who I think they should extend," said Martinez, who opted out of his contract and became a free agent after the season. "He’s shown he can take charge of a full staff and still produce at a high level. That’s very rare."

President of baseball operations Nick Krall said last week that the club hasn't yet looked at potential deals for arbitration-eligible players like Stephenson.

"It all goes back to understanding at-bats and what our pitchers are trying to do," Stephenson said of successful game calling. "Put together a plan and game adjustments we need to minimize their hits and runs to give ourselves a chance to win."