The Giants and Jerar Encarnación are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Mike Rodriguez on X. The outfielder had been with Guerreros de Oaxaca in the Mexican League, who also posted on X about the deal with the Giants. It’s not yet official as Encarnación is still waiting on his work visa and needs to take his physical, per Rodriguez.
Encarnación, 26, came up as a prospect in the Marlins’ system and spent some time in the big leagues with them. He was outrighted off their roster in July of last year and was able to elect free agency at the end of the season.
He has shown big power throughout his career but also a troubling tendency to strike out. In his 81 major league plate appearances in 2022, he hit three home runs but was also punched out in 39.5% of them. He spent all of last year in Triple-A, getting into 122 games at that level. He hit 26 homers there but also struck out 38.8% of the time.
With Oaxaca this year, he stepped to the plate 107 times and amazingly launched 19 home runs. That helped him produce an absurd batting line of .366/.439/.989. His 24.3% strikeout rate wasn’t as bad as his most recent stint in affiliated ball, though it’s hard to quantify the quality of pitching he’s been facing in Mexico.
It’s understandable why the Giants are willing to give him a shot and see if he can bring that strong performance with him to their system. They currently have seven position players on the injured list, including four outfielders in Jung Hoo Lee, Jorge Soler, Austin Slater and Michael Conforto. While Blake Sabol can play some outfield, he’s tied to the catcher position now with Patrick Bailey and Tom Murphy both on the IL. Wade Meckler is on the 40-man roster but dealing with a wrist injury in the minor leagues.
Mike Yastrzemski is the most established member of the outfield that’s currently healthy. The other two spots have mostly been filled by Heliot Ramos and Luis Matos lately, with each of those two fairly lacking in experience. Tyler Fitzgerald, who is also light on inexperience, is moving around to play both the outfield and the infield.
With all of those moving parts, the Giants will bring Encarnación to Triple-A Sacramento and see how he fares. If he keeps crushing the ball like he has been with the Guerreros, it’s not hard to see him earning some big league at-bats, whether he can tamp down the strikeouts or not.
