Cincinnati Reds rally to beat Miami Marlins: Matt McLain on win
Cincinnati Reds second baseman Matt McLain on the team’s comeback win over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday, April 7.
MIAMI − Just four days after catcher Jose Trevino made the defensive play of the early season for the Cincinnati Reds, the club put him on the 10-day injured list for a “thoracic spine strain.”
The move is retroactive to April 5, the day after the play in the last game Trevino played.
As part of the sequence of moves to backfill on the roster, former rising-star slugging prospect Christian Encarnacion-Strand was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. That allowed the Reds to add P.J. Higgins to the 40-man and call him up from Triple-A Louisville.
In the seventh inning of the Reds’ game in Texas on April 4, Trevino sprang from behind the plate when Josh Jung topped a slow roller between the mound and third-base line, pouncing on the ball about 10-12 feet from the plate and spinning to throw out Jung at first by a half-step.
The Reds eventually won the game 2-0.
The Encarnacion-Strand move puts the powerful first baseman’s status in limbo, pending the waiver process.
Encarnacion-Strand, 26, is a former fourth-round pick of the Minnesota Twins who was acquired by the Reds at the 2022 trade deadline for pitcher Tyler Mahle in a deal that also netted Spencer Steer.
He was part of the wave of touted prospect who debuted in 2023, hitting .270 with 13 home runs in 63 games that season before injuries and strikeout-prone underachievement kept him from establishing himself among the core that made the playoffs last year.
He was 8-for-36 (.222) with two home runs and 14 strikeouts at Triple-A Louisville this season.
