SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Jung Hoo Lee’s availability for Opening Day is already up in the air. Now, the status of Jerar Encarnacion is also ambiguous.
Encarnacion exited Friday afternoon’s game against the Cleveland Guardians due to an apparent injury to his left ring finger after diving for a ball in right field, jeopardizing his availability for the Giants’ first game of the season.
“He was just trying to lay out and make a good play and caught his fingers underneath,” said manager Bob Melvin.
Encarnacion, 27, projects to make the Giants’ Opening Day roster as a bench bat who can play first base and both corner outfield positions. He’s solidified his spot on this team with an excellent spring, hitting .302 with two homers, a team-high 14 RBIs and an .856 OPS over 20 Cactus League games this spring.
If Encarnacion begins the season on the injured list, one of the candidates who could fill Encarnacion’s specific role is David Villar. The 28-year-old is out of options, meaning the Giants must designate him for assignment if he’s not on the Opening Day roster. This spring, Villar is hitting .190/.261/.381 with two homers and four RBIs.
Grant McCray is currently competing for a spot on the Giants’ Opening Day roster as well, but he stands to provide more value with speed and defense than with his bat.
Jake Lamb, a non-roster invite, could be another option, though he was reassigned to minor league camp prior to Friday’s game. Lamb, a left-handed hitter, .273 /.333/.364 with three doubles this spring.
Encarnacion signed a minor-league deal with the Giants after hitting after hitting 19 home runs In 26 games for Guerreros de Oaxaca of the Mexican League. He continued to impress with Triple-A Sacramento (10 homers, 1.054 OPS) and earned a promotion to San Francisco. Encarnacion had modest results the Giants, hitting five home runs and totaling 19 RBIs with a .248 batting average over 35 games, but the true allure of Encarnacion resides in his batted ball data.
If Encarnacion played enough games to qualify, his 95.0 mph average exit velocity would’ve ranked fourth in average exit velocity behind only Aaron Judge (96.2 mph), Shohei Ohtani (95.8 mph) and Oneil Cruz (95.5 mph). Encarnacion would’ve also ranked in the top-five of hard hit percentage and bat speed.
Webb wraps up spring with latest solid outing
Solely from the perspective of strike-to-ball ratio, Logan Webb’s outing against the Guardians was his worst outing of the spring. Webb, though, will gladly take the results in his Cactus League finale: 5 2/3 innings, one earned run, one walk, seven strikeouts. Over five starts this spring, Webb posted a 1.77 ERA with 22 strikeouts to three walks over 20 1/3 innings, a far cry from the 10.97 ERA that he posted last spring.
“I fully expected myself to have a 10 ERA this spring,” Webb said. “I joke around with guys that I’m not a very good spring pitcher, but I’m excited with how things have gone, and hopefully, just take it into the season.”
Aside from the results, Webb has used this spring to experiment and tinker with his game despite finishing sixth in NL Cy Young Award voting last season.
He threw more cutters, a pitch he only used 83 times last season. He tinkered with his mechanics, adding movement to his backfoot when he’s out of the windup. He altered his signature changeup after the pitch performed poorly in 2024, throwing the offspeed offering roughly two miles per hour slower compared to last season.
“I tried to do it as much as I can during the offseason so I didn’t have to try to change too much during spring,” Webb said. “I feel like I did it last year where the results weren’t there, and then you’re trying to change things. It’s definitely different air here than it is in most places, right? … I think the goal was just to stay healthy and trust it.”
Worth noting
- Along with Lee, infielder Casey Schmitt is also dealing with a back injury. He won’t play on Saturday, but he will probably play in the exhibition game on Sunday against the Sacramento River Cats.
- Matt Chapman hit his fifth home run of the spring, a screaming line drive that barely eclipsed the left-field fence. Brett Wisely, who will likely be the Giants’ fifth infielder, also hit his first home run of the spring, a towering, go-ahead, three-run shot in the eighth inning.