SF Giants’ Encarnacion undergoes surgery, estimated to return in eight weeks
CINCINNATI — Jerar Encarnacion’s season debut will be a little later than initially hoped.
The Giants announced prior to Saturday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds that Encarnacion underwent surgery on Friday in Los Angeles to repair his left hand fracture. Encarnacion will be in a split for two weeks, then begin his rehab. Encarnacion is expected to be sidelined eight weeks, longer than the slugger’s initial estimate of four-to-five weeks.
“I think we were always looking at (the recovery being longer), to tell you the truth,” said manager Bob Melvin.
The team also announced that catcher Tom Murphy (mid-back disk herniation) is continuing his physical therapy but has yet to resume baseball activities.
Encarnacion, 27, was slated to share time with Wilmer Flores at designated following a spring where he hit two homers, totaled 14 RBIs and posted an .856 OPS. He was roughly a league-average hitter during his brief time with the Giants last season, posting a .248 batting average with five homers and a .702 OPS, but his underlying metrics indicated a big year could be in store.
If Encarnacion is going to break out, he will have to wait until the summer.
The injury opened up a spot on the Opening Day roster for infielder Casey Schmitt, who was slotted in at designated hitter to bat eighth against Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo on Saturday at Great American Ball Park. Schmitt fares has fared better in his career against lefties (seven homers, .725 OPS) than righties (four homers, .565 OPS).
“If you look at the history, he’s dealt some damage there,” Melvin said. “It’s one of the reasons he made the team. With no Jerar, we wanted to add another righty bat that hits lefties well. Casey’s in there today and he’ll get pretty good opportunities, especially against lefties.”
Along with Schmitt, Luis Matos got the start in right field over Mike Yastrzemski, a move that Melvin will continue to make given Matos fares better against lefties than Yastrzemski. Against left-handers, Matos has a career .758 OPS while Yastrzemski has a career .685 OPS. Over the last four seasons, in particular, Yastrzemski has a .597 OPS against lefties.
“Certain guys are here for different reasons. Right now, Matos and Schmitt are here to get at-bats off of lefties,” Melvin said.
Melvin unsurprisingly wrote left fielder Heliot Ramos into the leadoff spot in Saturday’s lineup. Along with a career .956 OPS against left-handers, Ramos hit 12 homers and posted a 1.189 OPS versus lefties last season, the second-best mark in baseball behind only Aaron Judge (1.240 OPS).
Luciano homers in first game as left fielder
Marco Luciano was among those in the first round of cuts during spring training, but the 23-year-old started the season with Triple-A Sacramento strong by drawing two walks and hitting.a three-run, opposite-field homer — all in his first regular season game as an outfielder.
“He’s at a new position and all that. He didn’t get a ton of at-bats for us this spring. Nice for him to be able to get off to a good start,” Melvin said. “We saw some good at-bats from him when we were there during the exhibition game.”
Luciano converted from middle infielder to corner outfielder this offseason following a tumultuous year, one where he was expected to become the Giants’ shortstop of the future. He lost the starting job to Nick Ahmed, a late signing during spring, and spent more time with Sacramento than San Francisco. During his little time with the Giants, Luciano was a net negative on offense and defense. Instead of playing winter ball, Luciano dedicated this offseason to finding his swing.
Worth noting
- Infielder David Villar cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Sacramento, the Giants announced. Villar was designated for assignment on Tuesday and was a strong possibility to be picked up by another team, but Villar’s time with the organization will continue.”