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.

To start us off this week, since I was away for a few days, MLB.com’s Joey Pollizze spoke with Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson in Milwaukee upon his return from the concussion injured list.

Tyler Stephenson’s road to recovery from his concussion finally ended Tuesday ahead of the series opener against the Brewers. Stephenson missed 13 days, 11 games, after the Padres’ Luke Voit collided with the catcher on April 19 at Petco Park.

It was a long-awaited return for Stephenson, who desperately wanted to play. But the 25-year-old understood the protocol regarding a concussion.

“With it being my third one and playing a position where there could be foul balls and other plays at the plate, I had to make sure I was 100 percent, whenever I did feel good, giving it more days to make sure I’m ready,” Stephenson said.

His first concussion came in high school on what he referred to as the worst one -- for obvious reasons. Stephenson was running to first when the first baseman came off the bag late and collided with him. The catcher was knocked out cold and needed five stitches. It isn’t noticeable unless staring closely at it, but above his lip is a small scar, the result of those stitches.

The second time was in Single-A Dayton, in the unluckiest of ways. As Stephenson was taking batting practice, a ball hit off the wall and got him square in the temple in a “freak accident.”

In terms of symptoms and feelings, his most recent concussion was the easiest one to overcome.

“I think this was the mildest, easiest of all,” the catcher said. “It was a couple days' worth of nausea and dizziness, but that was it.”

An unwanted veteran of concussions, Stephenson can testify that the aftermath isn’t much fun and has been quite frustrating.

“I [didn’t do] a whole lot,” he said. “It was tough sitting back and being away from the team. [I] just went home, relaxed and slept.”

Since then, the catcher has made his way back into the starting lineup. In his return on Tuesday, Stephenson struggled, going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. But he finally got back into his groove on Thursday after an off-day, when he crushed a home run and went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

“He’s a big part of our team,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He’s obviously very talented and a player that just continues to get better and we’re going to see that for a long time. Still a young player, but he’s just done so much in a short period of time.”

Now that Stephenson has had time to reflect on that play at the plate, he could finally describe what it felt like as Voit collided with him.

“Like a car accident, that’s the best way to describe it,” Stephenson said. “My neck was super sore, like a whiplash type of feel. I was aware, I didn’t get knocked out or anything, but yeah, like a car crash.”