Christian Encarnacion-Strand to have season ending surgery
The Cincinnati Reds announced some bad news this afternoon when manager David Bell told the media before tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates that Christian Encarnacion-Strand would be having surgery on his wrist to fix ligament damage and that it’s expected to end his 2024 season. The surgery is scheduled for July 11th for those of you who want to keep tabs on that.
This has been a tough year for injuries for the Reds and it was a tough year for Christian Encarnacion-Strand. He got out to a slow start this year, hitting .190/.220/.293 through 29 games. He was hit by a pitch in late April and then missed a week before returning. After just four games he was shut down after getting some more tests it was found that he had a fracture and that perhaps it was an older injury that went undetected. Fast forward some time and it was discovered that he also had ligament damage in his wrist.
Several weeks ago it was announced that Encarnacion-Strand was cleared to begin some physical activities, but he wanted to get another opinion. One of the opinions he got was that surgery may be an option to properly heal from his injuries. That decision has finally been made and he will be opting to go that route and be ready to go next spring.
In case you missed it earlier, Nick Lodolo headed to the 15-day injured list with a blister on his pitching hand. The Reds called up reliever Yosver Zulueta from Triple-A to fill out the pitching staff. You can read more about both moves here.
Emilio Pagan update
Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported earlier this afternoon that reliever Emilio Pagan told him that his check in with his doctor went well and his next step is to begin throwing. Pagan hasn’t pitched in nearly three weeks after injuring his lat against the Chicago Cubs on June 8th. That game was his first in a little over two weeks and he had just returned from the injured list after missing time with triceps tightness.
