The Miami Marlins finally called up Jerar Encarnacion

The Miami Marlins finally called up prospect RF Jerar Encarnacion and just as I predicted, he had a big first game. He went 1 for 4 with a home run, 4 RBI, a stolen base and a strikeout. This was a great debut performance. Encarnacion was called up due to necessity with COVID IL placements, but if he keeps hitting he will almost certainly stay up. What can we expect from Jerar going forward?

Jerar Encarnacion has finally arrived for the Miami Marlins.

In AA and AAA this season Jerar Encarnacion hit .313/.385/.518 with 13 home runs and 28 RBI in 57 games in 224 AB’s. That was obviously very impressive and the reason why The Fish had to call him up.

There was a pronounced split between Jerar’s performance in AA and AAA. Jerar hit .358/.426/.583 in AA with 8 home runs and 18 RBI in 136 PA’s. On the other hand, he hit .260/.336/.442 in 116 PA’s with 5 home runs and 10 RBI.

How did Jerar Encarnacion’s advanced metrics look? Well, his walk rate improved from 9.6% to 10.3% upon moving up from AA to AAA. His strikeout rate unfortunately rose from 25.7% to 30.2%.

What can we take from those stats? I think that it’s pretty impressive how Jerar Encarnacion’s walk rate improved despite moving up to a higher level. Patience at the place has been one of his hallmarks throughout his Minor League career.

The problem with Jerar Encarnacion however is his strikeout rate. He strikes out too much and it could be a serious problem going forward. Too many hitters were unable to fully adjust and never became successful at the Major League level due to that. Jerar’s swinging strike rate went up from 17.2% to 17.7%.  That’s a small change but still noticeable.

What can we expect from him going forward? I think that it’s very hard to tell as I really don’t know how many AB’s he’ll actually receive. I’m going to predict a .255/.350/.420 batting line for him with a high strikeout rate, an above average OBP and obvious home run pop.