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Stats

Encarnacion-Strand starting again at 3B

Encaracion-Strand_Christian (1).jpg

Christian Encarnacion-Strand

BAL 3rd Baseman #32

Player Stats

Christian Encarnacion-Strand is starting at third base and batting sixth against the Twins on Wednesday.

Encarnacion-Strand has typically been sitting against right-handed pitchers, but he went 3-for-4 with a home run on Tuesday, so the Orioles are gonna give him a chance to stay hot. We should note that, in 40 plate appearances against righties this season, CES is hitting .211/.250/.342, so the results haven’t really been there. However, it’s just a 15 percent strikeout rate in those plate appearances, so maybe the hits will start to fall. Coby Mayo is on the bench on Wednesday.

- Eric Samulski

Source: Baltimore Orioles

More Christian Encarnacion-Strand News

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Christian Encarnacion-Strand

BAL 3rd Baseman #32

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Christian Encarnacion hit a solo homer and stole a base while going 3-for-4 in a win over the Twins on Tuesday.

It’s the fourth stolen base of the season for Encarnacion-Strand, while the homer was also his fourth. It’s a small sample of 59 at-bats, but a .271/.328/.525 slash reminds that it wasn’t that long ago that he was considered one of the up-and-coming power bats in the sport. It’s understandable to have skepticism, but weirder things have happened than a 26-year-old with his track record breaking out.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand

BAL 3rd Baseman #32

Christian Encarnacion-Strand is not in the Orioles’ starting lineup for Friday’s battle against the Rangers in Arlington.

Encarnacion-Strand has become a fixture in the middle of the O’s lineup since his arrival, but he’ll get a breather in this one against tough right-hander Nathan Eovaldi. Coby Mayo will cover the hot corner in his absence while Tyler O’Neill serves as the Orioles’ designated hitter and will bat cleanup on Friday.
Coby Mayo

BAL 3rd Baseman #16

Coby Mayo went 2-for-4 with a solo home run against the Angels on Wednesday.

Mayo’s home run was his 15th of the year. He hit a solo shot off Reid Detmers in the fourth inning. Mayo is 14-for-53 (.264) with five home runs, 11 runs scored and 10 RBI since the beginning of July.
Coby Mayo

BAL 3rd Baseman #16

Coby Mayo is hitting leadoff on Saturday against the Phillies.

Mayo gets the nod to face Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez with Taylor Ward hitting second. It’s a bit of a different look for Baltimore, but one of their former top prospects has earned the opportunity by hitting .267 (8-for-30) with two homers in 11 games since last month’s All-Star break.
Coby Mayo

BAL 3rd Baseman #16

Coby Mayo went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and three RBI on Monday, leading the Orioles to an 8-5 win over the Tigers.

Mayo extended Baltimore’s early advantage with an RBI single against Tigers starter Keider Montero in the third inning before taking reliever Brenan Hanifee deep for a no-doubter to left field in the fifth. It was his 14th round-tripper of the season and fourth time he’s gone deep since the start of July.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand

BAL 1st Baseman #32

Christian Encarnacion-Strand went 2-for-4 with a double, a homer, and four RBI in Friday’s loss to the Braves.

Encarnacion-Strand continues to leave a strong impression with the Orioles since getting called up. The righty smacked a two-RBI double off Grant Holmes in the bottom of the second inning to give the Birds an early 2-0 lead, and in the bottom of the 10th, he blasted a two-run homer to cut the Braves’ lead to 7-6. CES has now driven in eight runs in his first five games with the Birds while registering four extra-base hits.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand

BAL 1st Baseman #32

Christian Encarnacion-Strand went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI versus the Red Sox in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader.

Encarnacion-Strand is now 6-for-12 with two homers in three games since joining the Orioles. His homer today was a 424-footer off Jake Bennett and was one of three hard-hit balls in the game. He figured to play mostly against lefties, but with Samuel Basallo joining Blaze Alexander and Adley Rutschman on the IL, the Orioles don’t have anything to lose by giving him regular at-bats between third and DH for now.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand

BAL 1st Baseman #32

Making his second start since being called up by the Orioles, Christian Encarnacion-Strand went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer before being lifted for a pinch-hitter Monday against the Red Sox.

Both hits came off Payton Tolle. Jackson Holliday then batted for him as soon as the Red Sox brought a righty into the game. The funny thing there is that CES entered tonight with a career .750 OPS against righties and a .469 OPS versus lefties. There’s still some hope for Encarnacion-Strand as a productive corner guy in the majors, but his role with the Orioles figures to be pretty limited.
Samuel Basallo

BAL Catcher #29

Samuel Basallo (shoulder) is not in the lineup for Monday’s game against the Red Sox.

Basallo suffered a right shoulder injury in Sunday’s win over the Astros. This is the second time this summer that Basallo appeared to grab his arm in discomfort after a swing. He didn’t miss time the first time it happened, but it’s unclear if that will be the case now. Coby Mayo will DH and bat fifth, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand will start at third base and bat eighth.
Coby Mayo

BAL 3rd Baseman #16

Coby Mayo went 2-for-4 with a solo home run against the Astros on Sunday.

Mayo’s home run was his 13th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Bryan King in the sixth inning. Mayo is 595 plate appearances into his big league career and it’s clear he has power (.169 career ISO) and will strike out (32 percent career strikeout percentage) too often. Mayo is hitting .197 in his career. While he’s potentially more of a .230-hitter, it doesn’t make much of a difference for fantasy unless he’s going to blossom into a threat to hit 40 homers.

Rotoworld

Freddie Freeman

LAD 1st Baseman #5
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The Dodgers are calling Freddie Freeman day-to-day after his fall into the Royals dugout during Wednesday’s game.

Freeman, who was hurt chasing after a foul popup, said he mostly fell on his left hand and shoulder, but he didn’t expect to need X-rays on anything and is hoping to be in the lineup Thursday.
- Matthew Pouliot

Injury

Source: Katie Woo

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Corey Seager

TEX Shortstop #5
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Corey Seager homered and doubled in a loss to the Angels on Wednesday.

Seager also singled in one of the better offensive games of the season for the 32-year-old. Unfortunately, that’s not the compliment it should be, as Seager is still hitting just .202/.300/.395. It’s too late for Seager to justify where he was drafted, but based on his track record, it’s hard to imagine those numbers aren’t going to jump up over these final six weeks.
- Christopher Crawford

Recap

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Mike Trout

LAA Center Fielder #27
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Mike Trout went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs in the Angels’ 5-2 win over the Rangers on Wednesday.

All three hits for Trout were singles up the middle. The future Hall of Famer has now driven in 44 runs, which says more about the hitters that bat behind Trout than anything else. It’s his first multi-hit game in August, and hopefully for fantasy managers/people who like watching historic baseball players succeed, not the last.
- Christopher Crawford

Recap

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Ben Joyce

LAA Relief Pitcher #44
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Ben Joyce hurled a scoreless ninth inning to get a save against the Rangers on Wednesday.

Joyce threw three pitches over 100 mph, including one that clocked at 103.4. The flamethrower has his first save of 2026, and while the Angels won’t provide a ton of chances for reasons that aren’t Joyce’s fault, it seems very likely he’ll see more over the final 40 or so games.
- Christopher Crawford

Recap

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George Klassen

LAA Starting Pitcher
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George Klassen picked up a win after allowing just two runs over six innings against the Rangers on Wednesday.

It’s the first win of the season for Klassen. The outing didn’t get off to a glowing start, as he walked in a run in the second and then gave up a solo homer to Corey Seager an inning later. From that point on, Klassen completely shut down the Texas bats, and lowered his ERA to a still unhealthy 5.86 in the process. Speaking of process, it’d be a mistake in it to trust Klassen as a streamer despite this strong effort when he faces the Astros next week.
- Christopher Crawford

Recap

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Cal Quantrill

TEX Relief Pitcher #44
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Cal Quantrill struck out six over five innings of one-run baseball, but didn’t factor into the decision against the Angels on Wednesday.

Quantrill did walk three, but he was able to keep that self-inflicted damage at bay while allowing just a Mike Trout RBI single. The 31-year-old has been a pleasant surprise at the back of the Texas rotation, and now has a 3.44 ERA for his trouble. He’ll get a chance to lower it next week against the Nationals, if the Rangers’ rotation order doesn’t change.
- Christopher Crawford

Recap

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Julio Rodríguez

SEA Center Fielder #44
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Julio Rodríguez went 1-for-3 with two walks and a solo home run against the Yankees.

Rodríguez’ home run was his 19th of the year. He hit a solo shot off Will Warren in the first inning. Rodríguez now has three home runs in his last seven games. His ISO is .171 this year after posting ISOs of at least .207 in three of the first four years of his career. He’s hitting .257 with a .752 OPS and 52 RBI.
- Nick Shlain

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Trent Grisham

NYY Center Fielder #12
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Trent Grisham went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, two home runs and four RBI against the Mariners on Wednesday.

Grisham now has 15 home runs on the season. He hit a solo shot off Bryce Miller in the sixth inning and a two-run shot off Mariners reliever Nick Davila in the eighth inning. Grisham’s power is noticeably down from his career-high 34 home run season last year. He’s hitting .222 with a .732 OPS and 50 RBI.
- Nick Shlain

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Mookie Betts

LAD Shortstop #50
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Mookie Betts went 2-for-3 with a homer in a victory for the Dodgers over the Royals on Wednesday.

Betts went deep in the second inning to put the Dodgers on the board and give the 33-year-old his 15th homer of the 2026 campaign. The power drought seems to be over for Betts, as he’s homered in back-to-back games after not hitting one July 21 and August 10.
- Christopher Crawford

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Shohei Ohtani

LAD Starting Pitcher #17
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Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run homer to help the Dodgers to a 4-2 win over the Royals on Wednesday.

A 2-1 deficit turned into a 3-2 lead for the Dodgers when Ohtani took Daniel Lynch deep. That’s the 27th homer of the season for the reigning MVP, and he’s now up to 74 RBI on the season. He also singled, and Ohtani’s slash is now .293/.393/.526. Amazingly, that .939 OPS is easily his worst mark since joining the Dodgers in 2024.
- Christopher Crawford

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