Stephen (elbow) underwent surgery to repair his UCL on Monday and will be sidelined 10-to-12 months, Tim Stebbins of MLB.com reports.
As opposed to a UCL reconstruction, the repair comes with a slightly shorter recovery timeline. Stephen is obviously done for the 2026 season and likely won't see any game action until some point in the first half of the 2027 campaign. The 23-year-old was a second-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2024 and was acquired in the Shane Bieber deal last summer. Across 12 starts with Double-A Akron this season, Stephen pitched to a 3.27 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and 49:23 K:BB across 55 innings.