2025 Player Outlook

A hand/wrist issue limited Encarnacion-Strand to just 29 games last season, never allowing him to fully get into any sort of rhythm. However, over his 29 games played, the 3.3 percent walk rate is less than ideal, and his 48.2 percent ground ball rate is far from ideal in terms of forecasting power output. He needs to cut back on the swing-and-miss in his game and do a better job of staying in the zone, otherwise, his batting average is going to suffer. I’m a bit lower than projections for CES when it comes to his batting average, but I fully believe that he could hit more than 25 home runs with half of his games being played at Great American Ball Park. If he continues to chase, and whiff, I have a hard time seeing him hit higher than .240-.245, but 20-25 home runs is very attainable.