{"id":856689,"date":"2026-09-22T14:48:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/856689\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T14:48:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:48:17","slug":"christian-encarnacion-strands-distinctive-play-puts-him-in-the-mix-for-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/856689\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Encarnacion-Strand\u2019s distinctive play puts him in the mix for 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Join the dugout. Sign up here<\/a> for Orioles updates in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Christian Encarnacion-Strand was surprised when he looked up at the videoboard recently and saw a flashing graphic that depicted one of his more distinctive features.<\/p>\n

Behind an outline of a pair of sports glasses, the initials CES flashed, leading a chant at Camden Yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so sick,\u201d Encarnacion-Strand said, laughing as he thought of the tribute ahead of one of his at-bats. \u201cThat\u2019s sick. I\u2019ve never seen anything like that. I thought it was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consider it from his view. He\u2019s a 26-year-old who found early success in his major league life with the Cincinnati Reds before injuries and a lack of playing time compounded into regression. He was dumped off the Reds\u2019 40-man roster in April and picked up by the Orioles in a cash trade. He spent months in the minor leagues before a callup in July.<\/p>\n

Since his returning to the big leagues, the biggest change has not been his success \u2014 although he\u2019s producing at career-best rates. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s those glasses. He\u2019s wearing them for the first time in his career, having ditched contact lenses because his astigmatism made his low-level prescription challenging. Little did Encarnacion-Strand know, those glasses would become an endearing aspect of his persona, complementing his hard-nose playing style.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have horrible eyes, but for baseball, you want really good eyes,\u201d Encarnacion-Strand said. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s fitting that Encarnacion-Strand sets himself apart on the field with those glasses (Cam Sanders, a right-handed reliever, is the only other player on the Orioles who wears glasses). Encarnacion-Strand is unique in other ways.<\/p>\n

For one, the Bay Area native isn\u2019t like most in the Orioles\u2019 clubhouse. He didn\u2019t play baseball at a young age, instead starting at around 10 years old. Encarnacion-Strand preferred wrestling, and he maintains that competitive approach in baseball. Every at-bat is a one-on-one battle.<\/p>\n

\"\"Encarnacion-Strand homers in the ninth inning against the Boston Red Sox on Sept. 3. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t watch sports. While the rest of the Orioles clubhouse tuned in to an NFL Sunday, Encarnacion-Strand hardly offered a glance at the televisions.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d rather be fishing \u2014 a pastime he shares with many. Encarnacion-Strand now lives in Arizona, and when he\u2019s not playing baseball, he has a pole in his hands. That isn\u2019t new, either. When Encarnacion-Strand played his junior year of college at Oklahoma State, he went bass fishing in the lakes around Stillwater with a high school-aged Jackson Holliday, whose uncle coached the Cowboys. <\/p>\n

That steady heartbeat is seen on the field for the Orioles \u2014 he\u2019s used to maneuvering out of headlocks, doesn\u2019t live and die by results and is content to wait for a nibble on his line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m competitive,\u201d Encarnacion-Strand said. \u201cI like to compete. I don\u2019t really care to watch it, but I like to compete. That\u2019s probably why I like it so much, because this game is really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game was all the more difficult when Encarnacion-Strand dealt with injuries. In 2024, a hand fracture<\/a> when he was hit by a pitch led to wrist surgery a few months later<\/a>. He dealt with back inflammation in 2025<\/a>. Both setbacks prevented Encarnacion-Strand from building off his strong 2023, when he hit .270 with an .805 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 63 games.<\/p>\n

He only played a combined 65 games in the majors between 2024 and 2025. In those games, his OPS was .564.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not playing every day, if you\u2019re not getting regular at-bats, it\u2019s hard to hit,\u201d Encarnacion-Strand said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what level you\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

That has been the largest difference maker this season. Encarnacion-Strand said he didn\u2019t change anything about his approach upon arriving in the Orioles\u2019 minor league system. Instead, he could play every day, and that rhythm allowed him to excel in Triple-A.<\/p>\n

It has continued in the majors. Entering Tuesday, Encarnacion-Strand is hitting .268 with 10 homers and an .817 OPS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not 100% sure what my stat line was in \u201923, but I think in \u201923 and this year, they\u2019re very similar, and I was healthy both of those years,\u201d Encarnacion-Strand said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily changing anything. I think it\u2019s just being healthy and playing consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n

It probably doesn\u2019t hurt to have better vision, either.<\/p>\n

His emergence has come as a surprise to some, but not to Holliday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten to watch Christian since college do this,\u201d Holliday said. \u201cHis demeanor and approach have always been very steady and very professional. When you have the ability to hit the ball all over the field like him, it opens up a lot of room for error.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it has moved Encarnacion-Strand into consideration for a large role in 2027, although how exactly that shakes out remains to be seen. Jordan Westburg will return from elbow surgery, Coby Mayo is burgeoning into a force and Blaze Alexander has been one of Baltimore\u2019s best producers. Finding starts for them all at third base will be a challenge.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an offseason question, though. For now, Encarnacion-Strand\u2019s performances are making him a fascinating player to watch \u2014 and glasses make him quite distinctive when he\u2019s out there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Join the dugout. Sign up here for Orioles updates in your inbox. Christian Encarnacion-Strand was surprised when he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[9097,40976,363,99],"class_list":["post-856689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-city","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}