Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars are signing right-handed pitcher Osvaldo Bido and first baseman Jerar Encarnacion, the team announced.
Both players had been linked to DeNA in recent weeks, but the deals became official today as the BayStars moved quickly to bolster their foreign-player contingent midway through the season.
The additions come at a crucial time for the 2024 Japan Series champions, who recently released left-handed pitcher Austin Cox following a season-ending injury and saw veteran first baseman Dayan Viciedo retire in May.
The BayStars are off to a disappointing 25-34-2 start and currently sit 7.5 games out of a postseason spot, with problems emerging across multiple facets of the team. Their most glaring weakness has been a lack of power, as they rank last in NPB with just 33 home runs through 61 games. That decline can largely be attributed to the offseason departure of Tyler Austin and the early-season injury to superstar Shugo Maki, who just returned to action this past week.
Encarnacion, 28, will be expected to help address that issue. During his time in Major League Baseball with the San Francisco Giants, he displayed impressive bat speed and exit velocities, though his raw power never translated into consistent production. Across parts of three seasons, the Dominican slugger batted .223/.248/.371 with seven home runs and a 27% strikeout rate and 3% walk rate in 71 games.
Before joining the Giants, Encarnacion dominated in Mexico, slashing .355/.439/.989 with 19 homers in 26 games. That performance quickly drew interest from clubs in both MLB and NPB. With the Central League not set to adopt the universal designated hitter until 2027, Encarnacion will likely see time at first base and potentially in a corner-outfield spot. If he performs well, the 6-foot-4, 265-pounder could become a strong candidate to anchor the middle of the lineup next season.
Expectations for foreign hitters have tempered considerably over the past decade, as many have struggled to adjust during NPB’s dead-ball era. Still, several players in recent years have made the transition successfully, including Franmil Reyes and Domingo Santana, who remain among Japan’s top hitters. Luke Voit, who arrived from the LMB last year, was also one of NPB’s best bats during the second half of the season with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, though his production has fallen in 2026.
Bido, 30, heads to Asia just two years removed from a career-best season with the Oakland Athletics. He quietly emerged as one of MLB’s more underrated pitchers in 2024, posting a 3.41 ERA across 16 appearances, including nine starts. However, he regressed sharply over the following two seasons, recording a 5.95 ERA in 98 ⅓ innings with the Athletics, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago White Sox.
For his MLB career, the Dominican right-hander has a 5.17 ERA over 212 ⅓ innings, along with a 20% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. His arsenal features a mid-90s four-seam fastball and sinker, a high-80s changeup, and a mid-80s slider that grades as his best pitch.
The BayStars will hope Bido can settle into the rotation and help improve a pitching staff that owns the second-worst ERA in NPB, even if some underlying metrics paint a more favorable picture. DeNA has an excellent one-two punch atop the rotation in workhorse Katsuki Azuma and sidewinder Yutaro Ishida, but the group becomes considerably less stable beyond them, especially with star import Jon Duplantier sidelined by injury.
This is a 2025 photo of Jerar Encarnacion of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. This image reflects the Giants active roster as of Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz., when this image was taken. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
