The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 MLB Trade Deadline.CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson remembers a conversation he had with his wife about how one swing can change an entire season.It’s not as if the 29-year-old catcher made a major change to his swing or approach this season, but he was still searching for something. On Father’s Day at Yankee Stadium, he found it.It came in a fourth-inning at-bat against New York Yankees starter Elmer Rodríguez. Stephenson connected on a 3-1 fastball from the right-hander, launching it 401 feet and into the Reds’ bullpen.“When I hit the home run, I just felt like, ‘There it is,'” Stephenson said before Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. “It felt repeatable. … I felt good with it.”
QB1 goes deep!@Tyler_Step22 pic.twitter.com/awKe0qDPff
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 21, 2026Beginning with that home run in June through Friday’s game against the Pirates, where Stephenson’s RBI double off Paul Skenes started the scoring, Stephenson is hitting .350/.429/.563 in 91 plate appearances over 25 games.Stephenson’s surge, along with the dearth of right-handed hitters and catchers on the trade market, may make the impending free agent the Reds’ most valuable piece ahead of Monday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline.Catchers — especially right-handed-hitting catchers such as Stephenson — are reportedly the most sought-after commodity on the market. No fewer than six teams — the Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers — are searching for a catcher.Some of the top catchers who were seemingly on the trade market, such as the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers (injured) and the Minnesota Twins’ Ryan Jeffers (team is buying), may not be traded. That could leave Stephenson as the best-case scenario for a team in need, especially as some of the other available catchers are moved, creating a game of musical chairs.One league source who spoke on condition of anonymity to address internal discussions said his team had hoped for a catcher with better offensive numbers but now sees Stephenson as a more likely acquisition than before Langeliers’ injury and the Twins’ moves.Stephenson, the Reds’ first-round pick in 2015, has done his part to make himself look better. Stephenson was 9-for-27 in the nine games before his pivotal home run at Yankee Stadium. Since June 7 — a three-hit night for Stephenson on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals — Stephenson has slashed .343/.413/.537 in 34 games. In 11 games since the All-Star break, he is hitting .343/.452/.657.Stephenson had a .188 batting average going into that game against the Cardinals. He entered Saturday hitting .252 on the season.Reds manager Terry Francona said he noticed Stephenson had started closing his stance more before opening up, which allowed him to square the ball up more. The results have followed.“Now he’s so much more square, and it just works better,” Francona said.It’s also allowed Stephenson to relax at the plate and not worry about the hole he’d dug himself.“There was a lot of trial and error of stuff; finally I had that one swing where it’s there,” Stephenson said. “I remember telling my wife that it’s so weird that one swing and one thing could do that. That’s all it takes sometimes. You can do all this stuff and just feel so bad.“It only takes one. That’s what’s so weird about this game.”
