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GOODYEAR, Arizona – Already without one of the better hitting catchers in the National League, the Cincinnati Reds also plan to open the season without their best run producer the past two seasons.
Spencer Steer, who has been dealing with a shoulder issue all spring, will open on the injured list as he continues a throwing progression into April, manager Terry Francona said Saturday.
As recently as early in the week, Steer held out hope he could make enough progress to open on time, and Francona vowed to give Steer “every chance” to make it out of respect to the hard-nosed player.
It will be Steer’s first time on the IL at any level of his playing career.
“I give the kid so much credit, man. He busted his ass,” Francona said. “But he’s also such a good kid that he listens and he gives you good opinions.”
The rehab plan at this point calls for Steer to head north with the team when it breaks camp Sunday, continue throwing with trainers and build at-bats via advanced machines and live pitching until starting a minor-league rehab assignment.
The team doesn’t have a targeted timeline for a return to the lineup. The 10-day IL move can be backdated by three days, making the minimum time required to be sidelined just one week. But it looks like it’ll be at least a week or two beyond that.
Steer, who averaged 22 home runs and 89 runs batted in the past two seasons, played through shoulder pain all last season. And while MRI results showed no structural damage, discomfort lingered into the spring, and the medical staff determined he needed to “retrain” his throwing delivery because of bad habits that developed through the course of compensating for the injury the past year.
“The throwing piece is going to come slower than the hitting,” said Steer, who does a supervised throwing session every other day. “It’s something that’s definitely getting a little better each time and keeps getting better.
“The big goal in mind is to have no setbacks.”
Losing Steer’s bat in the early going is an especially big blow, coming in the wake of the oblique injury expected to keep catcher Tyler Stephenson sidelined for a month or more.
Stephenson has been shut down since March 12 when the oblique began bothering him during batting practice.
He was re-examined late in the week, “and he’s doing really good,” Francona said, adding the catcher was cleared to start “rotational exercises.”
He’s scheduled to get another scan on the oblique Wednesday, “and if that comes back clean we can start to do some other things,” Francona said.
Meanwhile, the regulars on the opening day roster are set, barring injuries, and three players left in the mix for the final two bench spots on the roster: outfielders Stuart Fairchild (who’s out of options), Jacob Hurtubise and Blake Dunn.
The Opening Day lineup on March 27 against the Giants looks something like this:
- CF TJ Friedl
- 2B Matt McLain
- SS Elly De La Cruz
- LF Austin Hays
- 3B Gavin Lux
- 1B Christian Encarnacion-Strand
- DH Jeimer Candelario
- C Jose Trevino
- RF Jake Fraley
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds' Spencer Steer (shoulder) to open season on IL
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