Giants Slugger Tearing Up Minor Leagues During Injury Rehab Assignment

The San Francisco Giants were off to an extremely promising start to their 2025 campaign through April and early May. While they have started to plateau a bit recently, accruing a 32-26 record, they still have plenty of moves left to be made, including receiving multiple of their players back from injury.

One of the more notable players who could be set to return soon is outfielder and first baseman Jerar Encarnacion, who went on the injured list ahead of the season, but has been on a rehab assignment in recent weeks.

Having him back in the lineup would be beneficial in multiple ways, but primarily because he would be able to fill the team's gap at first base.

While he has not exactly proven himself as an offensive powerhouse in either of his two MLB stints as of yet, he has shown productivity at the plate in other ways, including driving in runs and scoring some himself as well.

He has tools that could prove useful down the stretch of the season, and given a larger sample size, he could become one of the more important parts of the roster moving forward.

Jerar Encarnacion's Injury Rehab Assignment

It seems as though Encarnacion is ready to return, given how successful he has been during his time with Triple-A Sacramento.

Through six games, he is slashing .350/.458/.750 with four RBI, four runs, two home runs, a stolen base and four strikeouts to two walks. He has split up his utilization between first base, designated hitter, and right field during this rehab stint, with most of his time coming at first.

In 27 innings in the field, he has 18 putouts and three assists on 22 chances, picking up only one error while turning three double plays. The one error is a bit concerning in such a small sample size, but it is also to be expected given he is returning from a long period of injury recovery.

He looks about as good as he did during his 2024 Triple-A stint, which is a positive as it hopefully means he is fully ready to go soon and could bring that level of hitting to the Major League roster. Even if not, having some stability at first base and some upside at the plate is not a negative by any means, and Encarnacion brings both of those things so long as he stays healthy.