Reds Place Struggling Infielder on IL, Recall Former Top Prospect

To this point, Encarnacion-Strand has 60 plate appearances and has managed just nine hits. Of those nine hits, two were home runs, and he's plated five RBI. He is slashing .158/.183/.298 with an OPS+ of 31. 

On Thursday, the Reds announced that Encarnacion-Strand has been put on the 10-day IL with what they designate as "low back inflammation."

In his first season in 2023, Encarnacion-Strand was impressive. He appeared in 63 games, slashed .270/.328/.477 with a 112 OPS+. As a rookie, he amassed 0.5 bWAR, and it was looking like he had a promising career ahead of him.

In the 44 games since, spanning last year and the beginning of this year, he slashed .179/.208/.295 with a -1.6 bWAR and 36 OPS+. CES has not been anything close to the player he was in 2023. Last year, he missed the majority of the year due to injury, so it only made sense that he was going to take some time to get back.

However, he's been lost at the plate in 2025. This could be the best-case scenario for him and the Reds. Encarnacion-Strand needs to get right and should probably spend a little time in Triple-A Louisville to get his legs under him. 

As a result, another solid piece of the 2023 team is back in Cincinnati. The start of Nolevi Marte's career was impressive, but he hasn't been the same since his 80-game PED suspension that derailed his 2024 season. Like Encarnacion-Strand, Marte had a 118 OPS+ in 2023 that nosedived to 49 OPS+ last year. 

He gets another shot in Cincinnati in 2025 to show he's back. To this point, Marte has just seven plate appearances and he's reached base twice, once via a single and once via a walk.

The Reds close out the series with the Seattle Mariners on Thursday before taking off for a nine-game road trip to the Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins, and Colorado Rockies.