Rotoworld’s brand-new Pickups of the Day column is designed to help fantasy managers uncover a handful of widely-available targets over the course of the season. It could be a breakout candidate, a prospect stash, an injury replacement, a pitcher with a favorable matchup or week, a player who is due some better luck, or any other number of scenarios. If there’s value to be found on the waiver wire, we will find it and bring it your way. Today’s edition features a prospect slugger joining one of the more exciting teams in baseball and a young catcher donning the black and gold for the first time in Pittsburgh.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 1B, Reds
Available in 55 percent of Yahoo leagues
After a poor offensive showing in the first series out of the All-Star break, the Reds did the thing that many fantasy managers have been clamoring for, hoping for, and possibly even begging for since Spring Training. They called up Christian Encarnacion-Strand before a three-game slate against the San Francisco Giants on Monday. CES, as he is better known in fantasy baseball circles, is a 23-year-old slugger that destroyed many Triple-A pitcher’s ratios this season. He had a shot at making the majors out of spring training but spent time on the injured list with a herniated disc in his back injury. Since returning to action on April 23, Encarnacion-Strand slashed .331/.405/.637 with 20 homers and a max EV of 114.0 MPH. Also, with him calling Great American Ballpark home, it is a match in fantasy baseball heaven. This, also, is not a one-year blip as Encarnacion-Strand has hit at every single level of the minor leagues, and his lowest wRC+ at any stop was a 125 wRC+, which just happened to be his first 35 games in the Reds organization at Double-A Chattanooga. As with most sluggers, there is a bit of swing and miss in his game. In Triple-A this season, Encarnacion-Stand had an in-zone contract rate of 82.8 percent. Keep in mind that the major league average zone rate is around 85 percent, so he will not be an asset in batting average, especially with seeing advanced major league pitchers for the first time. In his first game with the Reds, he is batting seventh as their designated hitter, and it remains to be seen how the Reds will move the pieces around, as there are very few players that deserve to lose playing time. With this lineup uncertainty, there is a non-zero chance that many players outside Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain, and Tyler Stephenson will lose a start or two per week, which is not ideal for fantasy managers.
Endy Rodríguez, C, Pirates
Available in 94 percent of Yahoo leagues
Not to be outdone by their NL Central Leaguemates, the Pirates also got into the prospect callup game on Monday as they called up catching prospect Endy Rodríguez from Triple-A Indianapolis. Coming into the year, many had pegged Rodríguez to beat fellow Pirates catching prospect Henry Davis to the majors based on how each player performed in 2022. However, Rodríguez hasn’t performed as well as he did last year, and it makes me wonder if the forearm injury that caused him to miss a week in May was lingering when he returned from the injured list. While his year-to-date stats don’t look great, .268/.356/.415, Rodríguez’s recent production might have prompted the rebuilding Pirates to add him to their active roster. In his last 20 games, the 23-year-old backstop hit .333/.423/.519 with two homers and a 11.3 percent strikeout rate. Prior to that, Rodríguez hit .241/.326/.372 with four homers and a 16.5 percent strikeout rate. The Pirates announced that Rodríguez would see the bulk of the catching reps as Austin Hedges will move into a backup and late in-game replacement role. If you are looking for catching help in your league, he would make an excellent pickup, just to see how it goes in Pittsburgh.