The Marlins have outrighted outfielder Jerar Encarnación off their roster, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. There had not been any previous public reporting about Encarnación being designated for assignment, so this move drops their 40-man roster count to 39.
Encarnación, now 25, garnered attention as a prospect based on his power potential, though with questions about his strikeout tendencies. The Marlins liked him enough to add him to their 40-man roster in November of 2020, to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft, but that profile has largely stayed in place.
He played 65 minor league games in 2021, mostly in Double-A, hitting nine home runs but striking out in 38.3% of his plate appearances. Last year, he played 99 games on the farm between Double-A and Triple-A, launching 22 bombs but was punched out at a 28.2% rate. He also got 81 trips to the plate in the majors but struck out in 39.5% of those. Here in 2023, he’s been in Triple-A all year. He has 19 home runs in 83 games but has gone down on strikes 39.9% of the time. His overall line of .211/.324/.438 this year amounts to a wRC+ of 87.
Encarnación is in his final option year and will be out of options next spring. It seems he was wearing out his welcome on the Marlins roster and has now been removed from it, as they quietly put him on waivers in recent days without any club putting in a claim. Since he’s shy of three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency and will stick in the organization as non-roster depth. The Fish will now have an extra spot to make use of, with just over a week until the August 1 trade deadline.
Had one of the most impressive MLB debut games I’ve seen in a while
He could start for the A’s tomorrow pick em up!
Marlins in an interesting spot. This week decides if they should buy or sell at the deadline.