Before this season, Spencer Steer had never been on the injured list. Now, he\u2019s out with a wrist injury that has sidelined him since July and still he doesn\u2019t know how long it will be before he swings a bat again. <\/p>\n
\u201cI try to stay busy,\u201d Steer said. \u201cI feel like my situation is different because I don\u2019t really have a timeline. It\u2019s wait and see, wait for it to heal. I\u2019ve tried to keep busy. Keep my legs in shape. Run around if I can. Watch the game, try to pick up on stuff. I\u2019m seeing the game through a different lens than I have before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steer has a follow-up scheduled for this week. In late July, he suffered a partial tear to the sheath that protects a tendon in his right wrist. Surgery hasn\u2019t been ruled out yet. Steer is trying to stay optimistic. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe big thing is the stability of the tendon,\u201d Steer said. \u201cIt\u2019s the whole reason I\u2019m injured. The tendon isn\u2019t stable. That\u2019s why I didn\u2019t get out of the brace the last time I saw him. He didn\u2019t feel like the tendon was stable enough. Hopefully, I get the green light to keep progressing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steer said that if it\u2019s determined that he needs surgery, an \u201cartificial sheath\u201d would be created and tied down to the tendon. He said that the timeline for that surgery would be three months minimum. Staying optimistic, Steer hasn\u2019t asked whether that would be three months until he\u2019d be back full-go or three months until he could start swinging a bat again. <\/p>\n
Steer\u2019s right arm has been in a splint since he suffered the injury, and his wrist has been \u201cimmobilized.\u201d If he gets the best case scenario news in his follow-up this week, he\u2019s still not sure yet what the timeline to swing a bat would be. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t use your wrist for six weeks, the tendons and muscles get stiff and get weak,\u201d Steer said. \u201cIt\u2019s a process, getting that range of motion and strength back. This time was spent to let it heal and not bother it. The main thing is don\u2019t rush just because I feel good. There\u2019s a chance I could reinjure it if I swing a bat too early. I\u2019m leaning on the experts. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m rushing back to play a game this year. I\u2019m trying to take my time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Reds have really missed him on the field, and his absence has impacted every single player on the roster. Guys have had to play out of position \u2014 positions that the versatile Steer would have had to fill. Days off were harder to create at specific positions because they didn\u2019t have a backup at multiple infield positions for a while. Terry Francona hasn\u2019t been able to use the bench in the same way because he didn\u2019t have a chess piece like Steer who could bounce around positions. The Reds also miss Steer\u2019s leadership. <\/p>\n
\u201cI miss being out there in the fight,\u201d Steer said. \u201cI\u2019m just not in the fight with the guys. That kills me the most. Not being able to compete is the worst part.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the 2026 season, he has a .238 average, a .739 OPS, 16 homers, 14 doubles and 40 RBI in 98 games. While the numbers don\u2019t pop off the page, Steer feels good about how he performed when he was healthy. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably the best I\u2019ve hit the ball in terms of quality of contact,\u201d Steer said. \u201cI was hitting the ball with power to all fields, which I think I\u2019ve failed to do the last couple of years. I was pretty happy with where I was at. The results weren\u2019t great. The process of it and how I was hitting the ball, it was better than it was in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before this season, Steer\u2019s best barrel rate was 7.6% in 2025. This year, his barrel rate was 12.4%, which ranked in the top-20% in MLB. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was squaring the ball up more than I ever have,\u201d Steer said. \u201cMy lower half was as consistent as it\u2019s ever been. I was on time a lot. There were very few times I felt like I wasn\u2019t doing the right things with my lower half. I had one bad stretch, really bad. Other than that, I was swinging it good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his season, Steer struck a similar tone to what Sal Stewart said recently. <\/p>\n
Stewart is having a fantastic season, but he said that \u201c\u201cI feel like I could have done more things this year to help the team win. That falls on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Steer sees a lot of positives in his own individual season, he stresses that he needs to do more for the Reds to win more in 2027. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get better,\u201d Steer said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to get better. The guy next to me has to get better and so on. What we\u2019ve been doing isn\u2019t good enough. If we\u2019re just going to go into the offseason, coast and have another regular offseason, then we\u2019re going to have the same results next year. We\u2019ve got to find ways to get better. We\u2019ve got to find out ways to find out who we are over this last month.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Steer says this, sitting in the Reds\u2019 dugout on Saturday, the Milwaukee Brewers are taking batting practice at Great American Ball Park. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the reason (the Brewers) are good,\u201d Steer said. \u201cThey\u2019re consistent. They play the same style of game every night. You know what you\u2019re going to get out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2026 Reds haven\u2019t been a consistent team. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe let it snowball on us,\u201d Steer said. \u201cWe had that one road trip (in early May) where we couldn\u2019t win a game. It snowballed on us a little too much. Sometimes, that\u2019s all it takes. A bad two-week stretch that you let get away from you, and it\u2019s too deep of a whole to dig out of. Then it felt like every time we strung a couple of wins together, we\u2019d find a way to lose a couple.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Reds ended April with a 20-11 record. They went 10-17 in May, 9-17 in June and 4-7 in July leading up to the All-Star break. The Reds played better leading up to the trade deadline in the second half of July, but by then it was too little too late. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just been a frustrating year,\u201d Steer said. \u201cA lot of guys would admit that they\u2019re underperforming their own expectations. That\u2019s a part of the game. We had high hopes entering the year. We felt like we had a really good team. The talent level currently on this team and the talent level for the entire year, we just underperformed. We could have been a lot better. It\u2019s easy to say a team looks good on paper. You\u2019ve got to go out and execute.\u201d<\/p>\n
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