GOODYEAR, Ariz. — It’s a topic that Tyler Stephenson says he discussed a lot with his wife during the offseason. When he has those conversations, Stephenson says, he feels “bittersweet” emotions.
Stephenson, the longest tenured Red, will be a free agent at the end of the year.
2026 is going to be a contract season for him. He’ll get a chance to be paid at the end of this season, but that could also mean that he’s entering his final year with the Reds’ team that drafted him over a decade ago.
“You never know what the future holds,” Stephenson said. “I love being here, and we’ll obviously see what happens. My goal this year is to have as much fun as I can because this is the group of guys that I came in with. I’ll try to have fun with it.”
Before Stephenson in 2026, no homegrown Reds player has taken the traditional path to free agency (six consecutive years on the big league roster) since Michael Lorenzen hit free agency at the end of the 2021 season. No Reds position player has taken that path since Zack Cozart in 2017.
In their recent history, the Reds have either traded (Jonathan India, Jesse Winker, etc.), extended (Eugenio Suárez in 2018, Tucker Barnhart, etc.) or non-tendered their homegrown players before their sixth full season in the big leagues (“rookie” contracts go six years in MLB).
Last spring, during spring training in 2025, Stephenson and the Reds discussed a long-term contract extension.
“I didn’t feel like it was the time or anything,” Stephenson said.
That was the only time he has discussed a potential extension with the Reds, he said.
Stephenson is open to resuming those extension talks with the Reds this spring. Around MLB, spring training is usually a busy time for contract extension talks (Hunter Greene in 2023 is an example). It’s referred to as “extension season” and deals around MLB often get done between the middle of spring training and the middle of April.
Stephenson, who won his arbitration case against the team on Tuesday and will make $6.8 million in 2026, will be a free agent in November if an extension doesn’t get done.
“We’ll see,” Stephenson said. “You never rule anything out. It’s tough. You’re a year away, and everyone always talks about free agency. Everybody wants a taste of it. If it makes sense for both us and the Reds, for sure. But there haven’t been any talks since last year.”
The Reds are in an interesting organizational place at catcher. Stephenson is a free agent at the end of the year. Jose Trevino, 33 years old, is under contract through 2027. Between Triple-A and High-A, the Reds don’t have a catching prospect — that’s the organization’s weakest position at those levels. Top-100 prospect Alfredo Duno has a unique blend of power and upside for a catcher, but he’s a 20-year-old who hasn’t played above Low-A and still has multiple years of defensive development ahead of him before he’s ready to be QB1 at catcher.
Who catches for the Reds in 2027 might be the most uncertain long-term, big picture question about the organizational depth chart right now.
Stephenson says that the biggest thing that he can prove in his contract year is that he can stay healthy.
Stephenson only played 50 games in 2022 due to a hand injury and a clavicle injury. 2025 was the most disjointed season of Stephenson’s career. He had two trips on the IL as he started the season with an oblique injury and then after he broke his thumb in August.
Because of the injuries he was battling, Stephenson had a tough time getting settled in 2025.
“It was very disjointed, and that can get hard,” Terry Francona said. “Guys get in a rhythm of playing, and that’s when you usually see the best of them. Sometimes you get them in name, but they’re not ready to be who they are and it can get tough.”
Stephenson tried to make up for missed time by taking extra at-bats against advanced pitching machines. But you can’t simulate game reps.
“By the time I got playing (in May), it was like the guys were a month and a half ahead,” Stephenson said. “You feel like you’re always playing catchup. I didn’t really hit my stride until the second half of the season.”
Offensively, Stephenson was a different style of player in 2025 than he had ever been. Stephenson didn’t even realize that he ranked in the top-10% in MLB in barrel rate in 2025, and he also ranked in the top-20% in hard-hit percentage. He doesn’t view himself as a slugger, but that was his profile in 2025.
With that came too many strikeouts. Among hitters with at least 200 plate appearances, Stephenson had the sixth-worst strikeout rate in MLB. No big league hitter saw their strikeout rate increase between 2024 and 2025 more than Stephenson’s.
He finished the year with a career-low batting average (.231) and a league-average OPS (.737), which was the second-worst single-season OPS of Stephenson’s career.
“The strikeout percentage, I know I’m a much better hitter,” Stephenson said. “Some of it was inflated with me coming back (from injury) and trying to get that rust off.”
As rocky as his season felt at times, Stephenson still carried the offense for a stretch in early June. In September, he had four huge clutch moments as the Reds chased a playoff spot.
Even with a down 2025, Stephenson is a very good offensive catcher. Since Stephenson debuted, among players who have caught at least 200 games, Stephenson has the seventh-best OPS in all of MLB.
“If I’m healthy, I know I’m going to be the player I’m capable of being,” Stephenson said.
During this offseason, he spoke with hitting coach Chris Valaika about the style of hitter that Stephenson wants to be in 2026. “Do you want to aim for more power or put the ball in play more like in 2024?”
Stephenson wants to put the ball in play more.
“That’s who I am,” Stephenson said.
Ideally, he’s able to strike the right balance and also tap into power. In GABP, his opposite field line drives can turn into homers. He can hit for power, and he put those pieces together in 2024 as he homered 19 times.
“There’s a balance,” Stephenson said. “I know the type of hitter I’ve always been. It’s about finding that groove again.”
He’s a bat-first catcher. The most important part of his career has been what he has worked on to develop and improve behind the plate. He’s not yet the defender that Jose Trevino is. Stephenson is also a relatively young catcher, and pitch calling and controlling the game behind the plate is something that gets better over time.
This year, for the first time in his career, Stephenson is going to be working with a new catching coach.
Former Reds catching coach JR House — who the team loved — took a coaching job with the Diamondbacks this winter so that he could be closer to home and family.
The Reds filled that catching coach role by hiring veteran Bill Haselman, who was on Francona’s staff back in Boston and has played professional baseball or coached for the last 35 seasons.
“With new sometimes comes some different ideas,” Francona said. “Hass has been doing this for a long time. He’s going to bring a good energy.”
While Stephenson’s focus in previous springs has been refining his one-knee stance or improving his framing, his big point of emphasis this spring isn’t related to mechanics. That will be preparing for the new automated ball-strike challenge system that’s coming to MLB this year.
Regardless of what his future holds, Stephenson is a huge part of the Reds’ plans for 2026. He’s one of the X-factors of the season. If the Reds consistently get the real All-Star-caliber flashes that Stephenson has shown in several stretches during his six-year career, then the Reds look like a much better team. If Stephenson reaches that level, then he’ll also set himself up to be well-paid in free agency next winter.
Stephenson wants to win in Cincinnati. After getting a taste of the playoffs last year, he wants to be a part of some more special moments with this organization.
“We know that we’re good enough to be in (the playoffs),” Stephenson said. “You play your baseball and don’t let the moment get too big. Then, we’ll see where this thing takes us.”