McLain was called up on May 15 and De La Cruz on June 6. Steer broke camp with the Reds after debuting last September. LawĮncarnacion-Strand is the latest in the wave of Reds rookies to come up this season. He didn’t make my preseason top 100 prospects and would not have made my midseason update, as hitters who show this much of a willingness to swing at balls do have a lower probability of success. He does have enormous raw power, which will only be helped by the Reds’ homer-friendly ballpark, and he’s a capable defender at third, although the Reds have had him playing more first base lately. Either he’s an exceptional bad-ball hitter, or he’s going to have cut down on his willingness to expand the zone substantially in the majors to have success. The fact he’s doing this against inferior pitching in Triple A doesn’t give me great hope that he’s going to have similar success in the majors against pitchers with better command and/or stuff. Fangraphs shows the MLB average chase rate this year at 31.7 percent, and only two MLB hitters this year have chase rates higher than Encarnacion-Strand’s - Javier Báez and Salvador Pérez. Rosecrans Encarnacion-Strand’s hitting profileĮncarnacion-Strand has hit extremely well in Triple A this year, even more so considering how much he goes outside of the strike zone, with a chase rate of 43 percent - that is, he has swung at 43 percent of the pitches out of the zone that he’s seen. There will need to be a corresponding move on the 26-man roster. The Reds’ 40-man roster is at 39 players before adding Encarnacion-Strand. He didn’t appear in the Bats’ game Sunday. Since then, he’s 20-for-55 (.364) with three homers and 10 extra-base hits with 11 strikeouts and eight walks over 13 games. He’ll play first when Joey Votto serves as the team’s DH, with De La Cruz playing third and McLain second.Įncarnacion-Strand had a rough patch in mid-June, going 8-for-46 without a homer in a 12-game stretch from June 13 to June 28. He’ll play third when Jonathan India is the team’s DH, with De La Cruz at shortstop and McLain at second base. With the Reds, he’ll likely play both corner infield spots and DH. The Oklahoma State product has primarily played first base for the Bats this season, along with third base and a game each in left field and right field. In Baseball America’s post-draft ranking of the Top 100 prospects in baseball, Encarnacion-Strand came in at No. The Athletic’s instant analysis: How Encarnacion-Strand fits with Reds The Reds are putting infielder Kevin Newman on the IL for gastritis.
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