Stephenson had his best outing of the spring Thursday against the Rockies, throwing three scoreless innings while allowing one hit and no walks, striking out three. He remains in the starting rotation picture for the Reds, MLB.com's Mark Sheldon reports.
Stephenson did his work mostly against minor leaguers, coming into the game in the sixth inning, but this was nonetheless an encouraging outing. "He was really good, especially because he threw a lot more fastballs," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "He was more acute with the location of his fastball. That was a good thing to see. He had a good slider and split [fingered fastball], but his fastball command did a good job."