As the calendar shifts to August, the San Francisco Giants will select the contract of outfielder/first baseman Jerar Encarnacion to the active roster.
He is heading to Cincinnati as the Giants prepare for a series with the Reds. The team will need to add him to their 40-man roster formally, but with several vacancies, they’ll only need to make a corresponding move to activate him to their 26-man roster.
It’s been quite the journey for the 26-year-old slugger. He briefly made his MLB debut with the Miami Marlins in 2022, spending four seasons ranked near the back half of their organizational top 30 prospects. Playing in 23 games with the big league club, Encarnacion hit .182, hitting three home runs and tallying 14 RBIs. He would spend all of 2023 with Triple-A Jacksonville in the Marlins organization, playing in 122 games, mashing 26 home runs, 76 RBIs, and hitting .228, but he struck out 200 times in 434 at-bats.
Miami placed him on waivers last summer, where Encarnacion was unclaimed, and became a free agent after the 2023 season. MLB clubs had minimal interest on the slugger, so he would go on to sign with Los Guerrero de Oaxaca of Liga Mexicana de Beisbol.
Encarnacion dominated the competition in Mexico, playing in 26 games; he would put up a slash line of .366/.439/.989, mashing a league-leading 19 home runs at the time and 36 RBIs, significantly cutting his strikeout rate down with 26 strikeouts in 93 at-bats. Catching the attention of MLB teams, the Giants would pick him up on a minor league contract, where he would report to Triple-A Sacramento.
With the Sacramento River Cats, Encarnacion continued his offensive dominance, hitting .352 and slugging ten home runs in 146 plate appearances. Although he mainly profiles as a corner outfielder, the 6’4”, 250-pound slugger has logged over 600 innings at first base. The Giants have been giving him several reps at the position before an expected call to the show, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.
San Francisco currently has Wilmer Flores in the mix for first baseman, but he is on the injured list and has struggled this season. Also, corner infielder David Villar has hit .257 so far in his short stint with the major league team, but his 35% strikeout rate has been concerning. Encarnacion could split time with current starter LaMonte Wade Jr., who’s been cold since the beginning of the second half of the season, only picking up four hits in his last 22 at-bats.
As great as Jerar Encarnacion’s season has been this year, we will see how his production in the Mexican league and Triple-A will translate to the MLB. This could end up being one of the more interesting post-deadline call-ups we’ll see this season.
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WBN MLB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/mlb/
Photo Credit: Jerar Encarnacion #64 of the Miami Marlins runs the bases in the sixth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium on February 26, 2023 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images)
