2025 stats: 19 G (56 PA), .200 / .214/ .364, .164 ISO, 27 K%, 2 BB%, 57 wRC+
Once upon a time, Jerar Encarnación hit a baseball over a wall in Oakland, California. A lot about that sentence is horribly dated, even fantastical. Once upon a time…professional baseball in Oakland…Jerar Encarnación.
Such a time did exist. A time when Encarnación drove a letter-high fastball 400 feet over the wall in right-center in the shadow of Mount Davis, making fans sit-up and notice. Here was a big man with big power
and quick hands. Here was a man who could clobber the ball. The 2-run shot was a harbinger — there was a lot more where that came from.
The 27 year old’s performance during Spring Training backed-up that notion. He was playing with purpose, with a clear opportunity to establish himself on a big league roster for the first time in his young career. The Giants were equally eager to make it happen. They weren’t sure what kind of production Wilmer Flores would give them, or if Heliot Ramos could smooth over a potential sophomore slump. They needed Encarnación’s power and he seemed primed to give it to them while filling the designated-hitter-slash-corner-outfielder role. He batted .302 while slugging .547 over 55 PA and 20 games in the Cactus League, boasting an impressive .350 BABIP and .245 ISO that stemmed from his excellent swing metrics.
There was little doubt that Encarnación would break camp for the first time on a Major League roster for the first time in his career, making the hairline fracture to his glove-hand when he dove after a low-liner in right all the more devastating. Less than a week before Opening Day, Encarnación was headed to the 60-day IL rather than packing up his gear for Cincinnati.
Surgery, recovery and rehab meant Encarnación was out until early June. Due to Wilmer Flores’s somewhat hot, run-producing start, Encarnación’s absence was more detrimental to himself than the Giants — but by the time he was healthy again, the club had started to hurt for offense. Clearly he wanted to be that person for the team. He wanted to make-up for lost time and wore that heart on his sleeve. He admirably risked re-injury with a tumbling, run-saving catch out in the badlands of right-center in just his second game back.
But what was needed was the heat from his bat, and those offensive embers were slow to rekindle. He went 3 for 22 in 8 games with just one double before an oblique strain, suffered around the time Rafael Devers joined the team, benched him until August.
Finally cleared to take the field again in August, Encarnación took his frustrations on out on the baseball. In his second at-bat back, he turned a 96 MPH fastball from Pirates starter Mike Burrows into a 107 MPH rocket to dead-center.
His first homer of the year — and it felt so good he launched another one the next day. Of course, after all that time watching from the dugout railing, celebrating the homers of his teammates, he wasn’t going to beat around the bush at the plate. His swing swallowed the baseball. It was hungry. A center-cut fastball from Andrew Heaney was a meal that wouldn’t be missed.
What Encarnación would miss though is another month of games. Two innings later, just as the good times started to roll, the good times pulled a hammy. A grade-2 strain, suffered when trying to leg-out an infield single, sent him back to the IL for the third time.
You can’t help but feel for the guy. Health sabotaged what was supposed to be his break-out year. He played in just 19 regular season games and logged 56 PA, one-less and one-more than his Spring Training totals. His most consistent at-bats of the year didn’t come until half-way through September when the year was basically over. All the crash and bang that was promised by his bat ended in a whimpering slash line of .200/ .214/ .364.
A lost season can be hard to recoup for someone in Encarnación’s situation. There is no standing pat if you live on the fringes. If you aren’t moving forward and progressing, you’re falling behind. In the brutal rip-current that is the roster churn, he must feel like he’s even further adrift and further out from the safety of shore. He’s 28 now and has just 256 plate appearances in the Majors spread across three partial seasons and four years. The quality of contact and power are still just anecdotal and far from proven. Now, without any more minor league options, he’s lost the safety net of roster flexibility, and the injuries he sustained probably convinced a lot of people in the organization that he doesn’t have much positional flexibility either. Put him down as corner-outfield depth, but he is a bat-first player. That’s where his value lies. Going for a head-first catch is again, admirable, but the difference between an out and a single in Spring Training is not worth the price tag of two-and-half months of lost plate appearances from a power hitter. His avenue to big league relevance is about as wide as the barrel of his bat.
Lucky for Encarnación the 2026 Giants just might have a need for a designated hitter. Wilmer Flores is officially a free agent now and will not be re-signed, and Bryce Eldridge won’t be rushed onto the roster out of camp if he isn’t healthy and/or ready to thrive, which means a cheap and disposable player like Encarnación could serve as an ideal filler in the early months of the season. Even if Eldridge does make the Opening Day roster, they might want to platoon him with a right-handed bat while he acclimates. And if the majority of the DH at-bats go to the kid, a slugging threat off the bench is always a nice weapon to have as well.
First base, behind Devers, would also allow Encarnación to score some playing time. He made just one start at the position last year, and did this…
Biffed catches aside — the job is a much better fit in the long run considering his physique and health-history.
So if he can stay healthy and continue to put a charge in the baseball next March — and he avoids being crushed between a rising franchise talent and a major free-agent signing (I’m not holding my breath on that one) — expect to see Encarnación in the orange-and-black at some point next year. He certainly deserves another go after what he went through this past season.
