CINCINNATI -- The Giants will be without Jerar Encarnacion for quite a while.
The club announced that Encarnacion is expected to miss approximately eight weeks after undergoing surgery to repair his left hand fracture with Dr. Steve Shin in Los Angeles on Friday. Encarnacion will be in a splint for two weeks before beginning his rehabilitation process, which will likely sideline him until at least June.
¡°I think we were always looking at that, to tell you the truth,¡± manager Bob Melvin said Saturday.
Encarnacion suffered the injury after jamming his left ring finger while attempting to make a diving catch in right field during the final week of Spring Training. He initially said he hoped to be back after four to five weeks, but the timeline shifted once the Giants determined he needed surgery to insert pins to help stabilize the fracture in his hand.
Encarnacion, 27, was in line to get plenty of at-bats at designated hitter after batting .302 with an .856 OPS, two home runs and 14 RBIs over 20 Cactus League games, so his injury will create an opening for other players to rotate through the spot during the regular season.
Wilmer Flores slotted in there on Opening Day and will likely get most of the starts against right-handed pitching, but he shifted over to first base against Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo on Saturday, leaving the DH spot open for Casey Schmitt. Third baseman Matt Chapman and shortstop Willy Adames could also get some looks at DH, as they could both benefit from occasional breaks from the field.
¡°It¡¯ll be a spot that¡¯s used by multiple players throughout the year,¡± president of baseball operations Buster Posey said. ¡°Look, if there¡¯s somebody that takes a hold of it and shows the production in that spot that we want, then maybe that changes. But I kind of see it as used by multiple players.¡±
Schmitt, 26, is known for his glove, but he¡¯s blocked from his two primary positions by Chapman and Adames, so the Giants felt the DH spot was the best way to get his bat in the lineup against Lodolo on Saturday. Schmitt batted .311 with a .991 OPS and four home runs in 26 games against lefties in 2024, which helped him earn a spot on the Giants¡¯ Opening Day roster as a backup infielder this year.
¡°You look at the history, he¡¯s done 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.¡±
Worth noting
The Giants included former top prospect Marco Luciano in their first wave of Spring Training cuts because they wanted the 23-year-old to go down to Minor League camp and get more reps in left field, a position he¡¯s learning for the first time this year.
The transition seems to be going well so far, as Luciano made his first career start in the outfield in Triple-A Sacramento¡¯s 2025 opener on Friday and crushed a three-run home run in an 8-0 win over Albuquerque.
¡°It was good,¡± Melvin said. ¡°New position and all that. He didn¡¯t get a ton of at-bats for us this spring. It¡¯s nice for him to be able to get off to a good start. We saw some good at-bats from him when we were there for the exhibition game [in Sacramento].¡±