John Fay

jfay@enquirer.com

NEW YORK -- Robert Stephenson, the Reds' No. 1 prospect, had quite a season debut.

Stephenson, 21, went five shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out a career-high 11, for Double-A Pensacola in a 5-0 win over Tennessee. He only walked one.

He struck out seven in a row in one stretch. He was consistently in the mid-90s, topping out at 98 mph.

Reds manager Bryan Price got his first extended exposure to Stephenson in spring training. The St. Louis Cardinals' success last year was in no small part because of their young arms -- with Michael Wacha being the prime example.

Could Stephenson help the Reds this year?

"Sure," Price said. "He's a polished pitcher with great stuff. I think when you have young pitchers you want to make sure that not just the physical side of their game is fine turned but that the mental, emotional part is there."

"There also has to be a need. We feel with (Mat) Latos hopefully being able to rejoin our rotation by the middle of the month we wouldn't need Robert to get here before his time. But I think moving forward, if we have an injury and he's the best guy we have available and the organization is comfortable with his maturity, then, yeah, he could be a guy that could help us this year."

Stephenson was the Reds' No. 1 draft pick (27th overall) in 2011. He started last year at low-A Dayton. He went 5-3 with a 2.57 ERA. He struck out 96 and walked 20 in 77 innings. He was promoted to high-A Bakersfield. He went 2-2 with a 3.05 ERA there. He struck out 22 and walked two in 20 2/3 innings there. He then moved to Pensacola. He went 0-2 with a 4.86 ERA. He struck out 18 and walked 13 in 16 2/3 innings there.