Chris Welsh advised fantasy managers to hold onto Christian Encarnacion-Strand, highlighting recent developments in his lineup positioning, batting cleanup directly behind Elly De La Cruz. Welsh believes this positional uptick significantly improves Encarnacion-Strand’s fantasy outlook moving forward, amplifying his opportunities for production. He specifically recommended against dropping CES in favor of Michael Toglia, stating that Encarnacion-Strand is starting to lock in nicely and should produce strong fantasy returns.

Guy Boston identified a prop bet opportunity with Christian Encarnacion-Strand under 1.5 hits, runs, and RBIs specifically due to his struggles against pitch types featured by Giants pitcher Justin Verlander. Verlander relies heavily on fastballs, sliders, and curves—all pitches Encarnacion-Strand does poorly against. He emphasizes Encarnacion-Strand's low historical batting performance against right-handed pitchers (.200 average, just 44.8 WRC+), combined with Verlander's strategic pitch placement high and away against right-handed hitters, amplifying potential strikeouts and weak contact. Though acknowledging there's limited direct head-to-head data, Boston confidently highlights the pitch mix advantage and Encarnacion-Strand's seasonal performance trends to support the under bet.