Christian Encarnacion-Strand

[*bengalfan74*]

(07-17-2023, 01:52 PM)samhain Wrote: Well, like I said, I think he's spent right now.  Benching a guy is never what the player wants, but it's probably what he needs right now.  I don't mean this in a long term sense.  Just give him some days off throughout the week.  He was pressing a lot in the 3 hole trying to hit for power.  He needs to play his game and get back to being himself.  If that happens, there's a place for him in Cincinnati.  If it doesn't, things are going to get real tight when Marte starts looking like he has nothing to prove in AAA.  

Oh I agree, I hope India comes out of it. I think he's a good leader. He's been a very bright spark thru some bad times. It's just was all that just beginners luck? Or how ever you want to put it? There was trade talk going on among the media/talking heads before DLC was called up and India's name was in the mix.

I was NO NO trade Newman, Senzel, Stephenson or whoever but not India. Butt:

Now, I'm not so sure who should go? But, again, I feel in the end it's most likely for this team to truly become a player for the big dance they're going to have to do some trading to get those last couple pitchers to compete. I'm starting to fell if India is traded for Nolan Ryan I'd be ok with it. Being dramatic for effect of course.

[samhain]

CES looks like another immediate contributor. He's really caught on after the first game.

Even if things don't work out for us this year, the future just keeps getting brighter.

[*bengalfan74*]

(07-20-2023, 08:06 PM)samhain Wrote: CES looks like another immediate contributor. He's really caught on after the first game.

Even if things don't work out for us this year, the future just keeps getting brighter.

Yep

We've got an excellent core of young position players to build on, way better than I ever imagined. CES, DLC, McClain, Steer, Friedl, Benson, India. And some decent, developing pitchers Greene, Abbott, Ashcraft, Lodolo?

It's great to be excited about Reds baseball again. 1990 was a looonngggg time ago.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

A lot to be hopeful about with him, but we need to see how MLB adjusts to him, and then see how he adjusts to their adjustments. Happens to seemingly every player in baseball and it's how they bounce back that determines if they live up to their potential or not.

We're seeing that with DLC right now as pitchers are only throwing him 31.9% fastballs and a whopping 16.8% curveballs and 20.1% changeups and as a result is swinging at 38.8% of the pitches he sees outside of the strikezone. His numbers have plummeted as a result. Now it's about how well he adjusts to counter it.

[*bengalfan74*]

I'm starting to get a bit concerned with CES, he looked very bad today and against not that great of pitching. Not sure if he's just pressing to hard trying to hit every ball 500 feet? I dunno

I hate to say it but if he doesn't snap out of it soon perhaps a week back in AAA is needed?

[*ochocincos*]

(07-30-2023, 09:42 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I'm starting to get a bit concerned with CES, he looked very bad today and against not that great of pitching. Not sure if he's just pressing to hard trying to hit every ball 500 feet? I dunno

I hate to say it but if he doesn't snap out of it soon perhaps a week back in AAA is needed?

I get the concern, but there still might be some value there as a power guy.
He reminds me of Adam Dunn, personally.
He'll swing at dumb pitches, and he'll probably strike out a lot, but he'll get some hits and knock in some runs.

Right now though, the Reds don't NEED another infielder, so if there's more benefit to sending him back down to Louisville for continued development for August vs getting that exposure to big league pitching, I say do it. Reds can always bring him back up when rosters expand around Labor Day.

[*bengalfan74*]

(07-31-2023, 02:21 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I get the concern, but there still might be some value there as a power guy.
He reminds me of Adam Dunn, personally.
He'll swing at dumb pitches, and he'll probably strike out a lot, but he'll get some hits and knock in some runs.

Right now though, the Reds don't NEED another infielder, so if there's more benefit to sending him back down to Louisville for continued development for August vs getting that exposure to big league pitching, I say do it. Reds can always bring him back up when rosters expand around Labor Day.

Yep

He's got a ton of power. He just needs to learn to quit swinging at junk. As long as he continues doing it, he's going to see little over the plate. Word gets out fast.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(07-31-2023, 02:21 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I get the concern, but there still might be some value there as a power guy.
He reminds me of Adam Dunn, personally.
He'll swing at dumb pitches, and he'll probably strike out a lot, but he'll get some hits and knock in some runs.

Right now though, the Reds don't NEED another infielder, so if there's more benefit to sending him back down to Louisville for continued development for August vs getting that exposure to big league pitching, I say do it. Reds can always bring him back up when rosters expand around Labor Day.

I would take him being Adam Dunn in a heartbeat. Dunn struck out a lot, but a huge part of his value was he would also walk a lot. Career .380 OBP as a Red. in a 7 year span of 2002-2007, he hit 259 HR, walked 759 times (averaged 39 HR and 115 BB per 162 games), and was 30% above league average offensively. Ideally I would like CES (or anyone else) to be a bit more invested in playing defense than Dunn was, but offensively I would take that from anyone, regardless of strikeouts.