Cincinnati Reds links - Waiting for Robert Stephenson

Today's the day the Cincinnati Reds can officially call up all members of their 40-man roster, and MLB.com's Mark Sheldon caught up with manager Bryan Price to talk about what the final month could provide for the future.  It sounds quite likely that Robert Stephenson will join the team at some point this month (he's the Louisville Bats scheduled starter on Tuesday, for what it's worth), as will Brandon Finnegan, the highest rated on-paper prospect the Reds received in the Johnny Cueto trade.  Whether or not Jesse Winker gets the call is probably the biggest question, since he's not yet on the 40-man roster and is leading the Pensacola Blue Wahoos towards the AA playoffs.  Price didn't rule out the possibility of using a 6 man rotation to finish the season to help reduce the innings on the all-rookie rotation, and Sheldon also noted we may not see many of the eventual call-ups until after September 7th - the final day of both Louisville and Pensacola's regular season.

Blue Wahoos closer Zack Weiss took home the August edition of the BC Relief Pitcher of the Month for the Reds' AA Southern League affiliates, and it was certainly rightly deserved.  Weiss owns a solid season ERA of 2.55, WHIP of 1.03, and K/9 of 11.7, but he ramped things up to a ridiculous level in his 13 appearances is August:  16 IP, 0.56 ERA, .352 OPS allowed, 0.375 WHIP, and 14.5 K/9.  The Reds 6th round pick from the 2013 MLB Draft just turned 23 this summer, and the UCLA product certainly appears to be on the fast track to being a big part of the Cincinnati bullpen beginning as early as next year.  Congrats, Zack.

Joey Votto's 2nd half OBP is ridiculous.  Historically ridiculous, actually.  He's all ridiculous.  100% ridiculous.  CBSSports.com's Dayn Perry noticed how ridiculous he's been, though he ridiculously ranked Votto behind Andrew McCutchen on his list of the most ridiculous players of the 2015 season to date.  Ridiculous.

MLB Pipeline is one of the few prospecty outlets that routinely re-ranks their lists as former members graduate, and today they added the most recent Reds 1st round draft pick to their Top 100 list.  Tyler Stephenson moved into their rankings when yet another St. Louis Cardinals farmhand moved on to big league success, and he also cracks their Top 10 catching prospects list at #3.  Stephenson's power hasn't yet taken off, but the kid just turned 19 two weeks ago and sports a solid .347 OBP through his 49 games in Billings.  REBOOT!