Christian

Encarnacion-Strand

Injuries and inconsistent production have prevented CES fr making good on his prospect promise. He’s only 26 years old and there are some intriguing batted ball metrics under the hood, but the Reds roster is really crowded now, which makes it hard to see how he makes the Opening Day roster.

The 26-year-old slugger is currently on a running progression that he’ll need to work through before he’s cleared for live game action. It doesn’t sound like it should impact his availability for the start of the regular season, though any missed time during Cactus League play could hurt his chances of cracking the team’s Opening Day roster.

The 25-year-old is hitting just .232/.259/.464 in July with four home runs, 13 RBI, and a 15/1 K/BB ratio. With no clear spot for him at the big league level, you have to wonder if the Reds would be willing to trade Encarnacion-Strand at the deadline to land a player like Luis Robert Jr. or other outfielders they have been linked to.

This certainly qualifies as an unexpected surprise. Encarnacion-Strand has barely played for Cincinnati over the last week with Noelvi Marte emerging as the club’s starting third baseman and Spencer Steer occupying first base. The 25-year-old former top prospect is hitting just .208/.234/.377 with six homers and 19 RBI across 137 plate appearances over 36 games. The logical explanation here is that the Reds would rather have him playing everyday at the Triple-A level instead of languishing on the bench.

Fraley was found to have a tear in his right shoulder, but since it’s not his throwing shoulder, he thinks he can play through it and have surgery after the season. He’ll probably be activated as soon as Thursday or Friday, which could lead to a demotion for Connor Joe or Christian Encarnacion-Strand.

Marte, who hit .333 with two homers and just one strikeout during a nine-game rehab assignment, is back two months after suffering a strained oblique. The Reds have him starting at third base and batting seventh today. His return should result in far less playing time for Santiago Espinal, but Espinal is starting at second with Matt McLain DHing today. Christian Encarnacion-Strand could also lose some at-bats. Marte should be worth playing in mixed leagues; he was batting .294/.342/.515 with three homers and four steals in 19 games before getting hurt.

The Reds were down 3-0 in the seventh when CES hit his sixth homer of the year with the bases loaded against Greg Weissert. The no-doubter left his bat at 109.1 mph and was projected at 439 feet. Encarnacion-Strand wasn’t even supposed to play tonight; he hurt his foot during the completion of last night’s suspended game this afternoon, but he was needed after Spencer Steer was scratched. The big game is very well timed for him, as the Reds infield is close to getting quite a bit more crowded with Noelvi Marte’s expected return from the IL.

Cincinnati ultimately decided not to take any chances after Steer was hit by a pitch on the right hand during the opening contest of Wednesday’s twin bill at Fenway Park. Ironically, he’s been replaced at first base by Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who was originally sitting out after fouling a ball off his foot earlier in the day. The 27-year-old first baseman has been diagnosed with merely a contusion, so it doesn’t appear that he’s dealing with any fractures after initial X-rays came back negative. Fantasy managers should keep an eye on his status heading into Friday’s series opener against the Phillies.

Encarnacion-Strand will get Wednesday’s nightcap off to rest and recover after fouling a ball off the top of his foot during the opening contest. He’ll presumably undergo further evaluation and possibly additional testing to determine the severity of the issue. There should be an update on his status heading into Friday’s series opener against the Phillies.

Marte also played the whole game at third base, which is a positive step in his recovery from a hamstring injury. It would seem that the 23-year-old is close to being ready to return to the Reds’ lineup. Given how much success he was having before landing on the injured list, it seems likely that he takes back the regular 3B role, which could be bad news for Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who is hitting just .202/..230/.361 on the season with five home runs in 33 games.