Reds first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand has been designated for assignment, the team announced. Catcher P.J. Higgins is taking his spot on the 40-man roster. Higgins was recalled after catcher Jose Trevino went to the IL due to a thoracic spine strain.
Encarnacion-Strand was the heir apparent at first base as Joey Votto‘s legendary career wound down. He delivered a 113 wRC+ across 63 games as a rookie in 2023. With Votto moving on at the end of that season, Encarnacion-Strand opened 2024 as Cincinnati’s everyday first baseman. He hit just .190 over the first six weeks of the year. A broken wrist ended his campaign in early May.
It was more of the same for Encarnacion-Strand last year. He had the first base job to begin the season, but posted a .482 OPS through three weeks, then hit the IL with back inflammation. Encarnacion-Strand spent most of June with the big-league club, slashing .230/.262/.410 over 17 games. He was sent back to Triple-A in early July.
The Reds landed Encarnacion-Strand in an August 2022 trade that sent right-hander Tyler Mahle to Minnesota. Cincinnati also acquired infielder Spencer Steer and left-hander Steve Hajjar in the deal. The swap seemed like a good piece of business for Cincinnati after 2023, with Mahle limited to nine starts in his Twins tenure and the infielders looking like key cogs for the Reds. Outside of Steer’s league-average contributions the past couple of seasons, it’s largely ended up as a wash for both sides.
Higgins hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since 2022 with the Cubs. He was decent in part-time work with Chicago, delivering a 99 wRC+ with six home runs across 74 games. After bouncing to the Diamondbacks and then back to the Cubs, Higgins landed with the Reds on a minor league deal ahead of the 2024 season. He’s provided subpar offensive numbers over the past two years at Triple-A. The 32-year-old will serve as the backup to Tyler Stephenson while Trevino is sidelined.
Photo courtesy of Paul Rutherford, Imagn Images
Had a great start to his career in 2023, but hasn’t been the same since. With Sal Stewart, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Eugenio Suarez before him, he’s an odd man out. But given his young age, he can still have some potential in him.
Will miss that extremely long last name in Cincy. Good luck to CES.
I’m not sure he’ll be claimed, but he should be!
Will be a surprise if he isn’t claimed, imo. Still lots of upside, a young player who can play either corner, hits for power when healthy. Think I might have tried to slip Dunn thru waivers instead of CES, but we’ll see how it turns out…
100%. There was a much better chance of slipping Dunn through – at this point, though, Dunn is probably the more realistic bet to contribute this year.
I hate it. A couple years ago CES lolled like a potential all-star.
Tyler Mahle trade looked like highway robbery at first.
Reds still won that trade by a lot.
Steer alone won the trade.
He had such a high prospect pedigree when he came over from that Twins trade. Oh well, he’s still young, he’ll get picked up by another team.
Rockies on line 1
Oh yeah, they definitely need to pick this guy up.
You guys have obviously not seen TJ Rumsfield playing this year. The Rockies have found their 1B. At the very least they are not desperate enough to take someone else’s failures anymore.
TJ Rumfield is my new favorite Rockie. I hope he keeps it up. Huge guy with a powerful swing. Fun to watch when he’s hot.
Correct, I’ve never even heard of him. I’m gonna look into it now though.
CES still has a couple of minor league option years. Even if it’s not the Rockies, he definitely has more potential than the last player on some team’s 40-man roster.
He is a rookie that the Rockies got from the Yankees in the Angel Chivilli trade this offseason. He was blocked in NY, but had a clear lane in Colorado. The guy is leading all NL rookies in batting average and has a couple of homers so far. He can really hit. He knows how to find the holes. Hopefully it is not just an early season mirage, but his form looks good so he might be legit.
I thought he was a little undervalued after that breakout season in the minors. Did he even break the top 100 ?
Ouch for Trevino.
As for CES, so much potential never realized and now there are so many on the team with his positional possibilities. Good luck to him.
I held on to hope that he would pan out and he still can, but the odds aren’t that good he will. Maybe they can get something of use back in a trade. His injury problems are a concern.
Wow- his place in that organization certainly changed in 2 years time.
He will find plenty of interest I would think.
I am guessing the reds asked around for interest in the offseason before they just dumped him like that. I doubt there was interest at a cost, but for free someone will take him for sure
@sports. He will be traded for international money or a ptbnl
Angels can use him and dump moancada.
I do believe he will getting his opportunity and when he faces the reds it may not fare too well. He was the strongest red by far and can hit a ball a very long way.
He can’t hit a breaking ball so all he will be doing against the Reds staff is striking out.
Counts for nothing if he can’t touch the ball.
I’m pretty sure the White Sox wanted this guy a couple years ago.
Sox need to pick him up, he’s better than Caleb DIRTBIN
He had the worst of the worse PR I’ve seen since Rolando Roomes.
I think people are wat overrating this guy. He has one of the worst approaches at the plate of all time. He’s the opposite of Sal Stewart. Also, good luck if you expect him to play 3B.
Of all time, eh?
It’s pretty bad. Never walks. Chases like crazy. Way too aggressive. No eye to speak of.
Good heavens!
Maybe “of all time” is an overstatement, but CES has terrible pitch recognition. I hope he turns it around though
Yes. His swing at every pitch thrown approach will never work. I saw him swing at a ball that hit him. Unfortunately his approach is killing his career because he has all the tools and talent to be an All-star.
Yup. The clock is ticking. I think he’ll be 27 soon. Maybe he’ll be another Christian Walker?
That’s always the guy I hoped he would become. Walker hasn’t been a high obp guy but has a few 30 homer gold glove seasons which CES is capable of if he could change his approach in the box. Of course Reds also had Walker too and released him before his breakout. Hopefully this is not the sequel.
Oh well. I’m 100% confident Sal Stewart is better.
DBacks don’t even have a first baseman, Santana is showing his age at 40, Can’t even keep Pavin Smith healthy enough to play a majority of games. Now they are using a combo of a utility infielder in Vargas and some guy named Baker who they just called up. C’mon Hazen get on the phone and make a deal to get a young first baseman that has real potential.
He always reminds me of Nacho Libre
He always reminded me of Ron Glass w/glasses 🤣
I can see the Twins snatching him up. They seem to like has beens and never was players.
I agree, the Twins also don’t have any 1st base prospects that are even close to AAA.
CES couldn’t lay off the low and away. As soon as pitchers figured that out he was toast.
Totally agree. Just could not adapt
Cam Collier with about 275 AB at the AA level is probably not long for becoming Bats 1st baseman. Reds are deep at the ML level with Stewart, Steer, Lowe, and Suarez. CES was blocked and was soon to be passed by Collier. At this point, just a depth piece in the Reds MiLB system, takingup a 40-man roster spot.
Hope this isn’t him out of the league. I could see him being a good rebound guy for a bad team
Reminds me of when they gave up on Edwin Encarnación
I’m not sure it was 100% giving up on him but somewhat a 40 man roster situation. Higgins wasn’t on the 40 man and had to be for the call up. Unfortunate for Cincy to essentially give up CES for a short backup catcher who in a likely hood won’t be here long.
Does it? Edwin had 4 positive WAR seasons in a row for the reds, including hitting 26 HRs before they “gave up on him” the next year
Perhaps a change of scenary with a clearer path for playing time and better health will get the best of him back, he looked really good a few years ago.
Mets should kick the tires on him. They need 1b help