Corresponding Bryce Eldridge, Jesus Rodriguez move cleared out bizarre Giants roster clog

With the SF Giants calling up Bryce Eldridge and Jesus Rodriguez yesterday, they made a long overdue move by designating Jerar Encarnacion for assignment. It’s really a miracle that he lasted on the roster as long as he did.

It’s sort of amazing that Encarnacion has been a Giant since 2024. He tore it up in the Mexican League that year and was hitting home runs like crazy. The Giants signed him and then called him up and he displayed some of that impressive power, hitting .248/.277/.425 with five home runs and 19 runs batted in.

I saw him hit a home run in the final series of that season at Oracle Park. It was a cool Friday night in San Francisco and he absolutely blistered a ball to straightaway center for a home run. 

It was swings like that which kept him around for so long. The Giants went into 2025 thinking he would be a solid candidate for designated hitter but then he broke his wrist late in spring training which was a shame because he was tearing the cover off the ball in the Cactus League.

Encarnacion always had promise, but never fully delivered

He got healthy and was called up later in the year but didn’t do much at the plate before going down with another injury. He came back and started to hit the ball really, blasting two home runs in a series in Pittsburgh but then injured his hamstring. He came back in September and finished the year hitting .200/.214/.364.

He came into 2026 knowing he needed a big spring training to beat out other players like Luis Matos and Drew Gilbert for a roster spot. After a slow start he heated up and the Giants decided to add him to the roster, thinking he could maybe pinch hit in certain situations or get starts against left-handed pitchers.

He just hardly hit at all this season in the few opportunities he got. He slashed a measly .176/.200/.206 and had no home runs and didn’t drive any runs in. The three most memorable things he did were 1) lose his glove in the dugout which caused him to be late getting out to right field 2) forget how many outs there were and 3) challenge a pitch that was practically right down the middle.

Yeah, it was time to move on.

Grant Brisbee of The Athletic made a great point in a recent article about Encarnacion. He wrote, “You can imagine Jerar Encarnación’s lovable-lunk persona absolutely tickling you in just the right way, so long as it came with even a .200/.300/.400 line and a 19-13 record.”

Had the Giants gotten off to a better start this season and Encarnacion hit at least one homer like the one he crushed back in September of 2024, he was well-liked enough by his teammates that he could’ve stuck around. Yet, when a team is as bad as the Giants have been there’s just no room for a goofball who can’t hit.

Maybe this isn’t the end of Encarnacion with the Giants, though. Perhaps he clears waivers and goes down to Triple-A. It’s doubtful many teams will be clamoring for him so maybe he’s a guy who will stick around somehow.  

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