CINCINNATI (WXIX) - When Cincinnati Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson heard about the stat that best sums up his impact at the plate in 2025, he said that he wasn’t aware of it. It hasn’t felt like Stephenson’s 2025 season has been about power, and he has never been the type of hitter to sell out for homers.

But in 2025, his barrel rate ranks in the top-12% in MLB entering Saturday, ahead of sluggers like Brent Rooker and Matt Olson.

“It’s an outcome of some luck and mechanics, I guess,” Stephenson said. “I didn’t even know that.”

Stephenson only has 12 homers and 17 doubles in 2025, but he has statistically been crushing the ball all season (barrel rate captures the frequency of a hitter making contact with the “perfect combination” of exit velocity and launch angle and is a stat that Joey

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