January 31, 2021

Catchers don't tend to provide a ton of value in fantasy baseball — with the exception of a selection few that get overpriced quickly — so it's always nice to find surprising offensive contributions from cheap sources. Stephenson has a chance to be one of those players in 2021. The lost year in 2020 was a huge blow for this young catcher because of the huge strides he made on the offensive side of his game in 2019. He was able to maintain a strong walk rate above 10% while reducing his strikeout rate by more than 5%, down to a respectable 16.5%. The powerful backstop has yet to fully tap into his raw power but he made some adjustments at the alternate training site and looked good in a very small sample at the MLB level. In eight games, he went deep twice and showed a well-above-average launch angle while consistently hitting the ball hard (but also striking out at a 45% clip). The Reds would no doubt take some increased swing-and-miss if it meant continuing to see the powerful results. Stephenson is poised to earn an opening day role with the Reds and has the skills to easily chip away at incumbent Tucker Barnhart's playing time. With an ADP of 336, he's poised to be a steal in that range and could produce more in line with catchers going more in the 200 range — if he earns enough playing time.--Marc Hulet - RotoBaller