Juan Encarnación

Infobox MLB player
name=Juan Encarnación

---

width=300
position=Right fielder
team=St. Louis Cardinals
number=43
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1976|3|8
birthplace=Las Matas de Farfan, Dominican Republic
debutdate=September 2
debutyear=1997
debutteam=Detroit Tigers
statyear=2007
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.270
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=156
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=667
teams=
*Detroit Tigers (by|1997-by|2001)
*Cincinnati Reds (by|2002)
*Florida Marlins (by|2002-by|2003)
*Los Angeles Dodgers (by|2004)
*Florida Marlins (by|2004-by|2005)
*St. Louis Cardinals (by|2006-present)

Juan De Dios Encarnación (born March 8, 1976 in Las Matas de Farfan, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals, who suffered a potentially career ending injury on August 31, 2007 and is currently on the 60-day disabled list.

Early career

Encarnación was signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent in 1992, at age 17, and made his Major League debut in 1997 at age 21 for the Tigers. He was the fourth youngest player in the AL that year. Encarnación played for the Tigers until 2002, when he was traded and had his best season as a Cincinnati Red and Florida Marlin, hitting a career-high 24 home runs and driving in 85 runs. In 2003 he had 94 RBI as well as a team-leading 37 doubles on the way to a World Series ring with Florida, then was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in December of that year. He was traded back to Florida midway through the 2004 season along with Paul Lo Duca and Guillermo Mota for Brad Penny, Bill Murphy, and Hee Seop Choi after hitting a disappointing .235 in 86 games. Encarnación bounced back with a solid year in 2005, batting .287 with 16 homers and 76 runs batted in. He was also on the roster for the Dominican team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. [ [http://ww2.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/rosters/index.jsp?sid=t805] ] Encarnación signed a three-year contract with St. Louis on December 23, 2005, worth $15 million.

2006 season

Encarnación finished the 2006 season, his first with the Cardinals, batting .278 with 19 home runs and 79 RBI for the Cards, with 6 steals. He led the Cardinals in games played (153) and at-bats (557), was third in runs scored (74), second in hits (155), fourth in doubles (25), tied for first with Aaron Miles in triples (5), tied for fourth with Jim Edmonds in home runs (19), third in RBI (79), third in total bases (247), tied for eighth with Chris Duncan in walks (30), third in strikeouts (86), sixth in steals (6), second in caught stealing (5), eleventh in on-base percentage (.317), sixth in slugging average (.443), and seventh in batting average (.278). He also had 265 put-outs, 4 assists, and 6 errors in 275 total chances, for a .978 fielding percentage. [ [http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/stats/sortable_player_stats.jsp?c_id=stl&baseballScope=SL4&teamPosCode=all&statType=Overview&timeSubFrame=2006&sitSplit=&venueID=&Submit=Submit&timeFrame=1 St. Louis Cardinals Stats — Sortable Statistics | stlcardinals.com: Stats ] ]

In the playoffs he was 8-for-44 (.182) with two triples and five RBI. He hit an RBI triple in Game 4 of the NLDS which turned out to be the game-winner, as the Cardinals went on to beat the Padres, 6 - 4, winning the series. However, he struggled the rest of the postseason and sat the final 3 games of the World Series, in which the Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 1. Encarnación confused many fans when he, without explanation, did not appear at the Cardinals' World Series victory parade. This marked the second time he has won a World Series but skipped the victory parade with the winning team; he also skipped the 2003 Florida Marlins World Series victory parade. It was later known that he went back to his home in Dominican Republic right after the World Series to tend to a matter with his son. [ [http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070114&content_id=1779162&vkey=news_stl&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl Notes: Encarnacion discusses injury | stlcardinals.com: News ] ]

2007 season

The by|2007 season marked Encarnación's tenth in the Majors and his second with the Cardinals. Before the season, he had surgery on his left wrist, and was not ready for opening day. He started the year on the 15-day disabled list. [ [http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070330&content_id=1871628&vkey=spt2007news&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl Notes: Rincon cut as roster finalized | stlcardinals.com: News ] ] Juan rehabbed first in Florida at extended Spring Training, homering twice in three games. He didn't appear in any games during regular Spring Training. Next, Encarnación had a rehabilitation assignment at Double-A Springfield. [ [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070422&content_id=1924065&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Notes: Encarnacion return imminent | MLB.com: News ] ] He batted just .155 (9-for-58) with 4 doubles and 4 runs batted in during the assignment. He returned to the Cardinals on Mother's Day, May 13, playing right field vs. San Diego, going 0-for-3. From May 30 to June 18, Encarnación had an 18-game hitting streak, just one short of his career-high of 19, which he set in 2000. He lost some playing time after the emergence of pitcher-turned outfielder Rick Ankiel.

Eye Injury

On August 31, Encarnación was struck in the face by a foul ball hit by teammate Aaron Miles while he was on the on-deck circle. Encarnación suffered multiple fractures to his left eye socket and an injury to his left eye and missed the remainder of the 2007 season. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AlLpEdxMQQA5NZJkIhOhcEop0bYF?slug=txcardinalsencarnacion&prov=st&type=lgns Cardinals OF Encarnacion reportedly has 20/400 vision - MLB - Yahoo! Sports ] ]

The injury was regarded by the Cardinals' head team physician, Dr. George Paletta, to be the worst injury he'd ever seen to the face on a baseball player. Paletta said the eye socket was essentially crushed on impact, comparing the injured area to the disintegration of an egg shell or ice cream cone, and that the optic nerve had sustained severe trauma. Paletta also said the eyeball had not been ruptured. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/story/2007/09/02/encarnacion-injury.html?ref=rss Encarnacion's career in doubt after eye injury ] ]

On January 16, 2008 it was reported that he would miss the entire 2008 season, and the future of his career is in serious jeopardy. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3199902 ESPN - Encarnacion likely out for 2008 season; MLB future in jeopardy - MLB ] ]

On May 2, 2008, during a web chat hosted by MLB and the St. Louis Cardinals for fans to talk with the team's new general manager, John Mozeliak a question was asked regarding the possibility of Encarnación returning to the team. Mozeliak stated "I'm sorry to say that he will not. His injury will likely result in his career ending." [ [http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080502&content_id=2626708&vkey=news_stl&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl Chat wr
] ]

Feats

*Had two career best 19-game hitting streaks in 2000 with Detroit. [ [http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/encarju01.php Juan Encarnacion | The Baseball Page ] ]
*In 2003, was one of just three outfielders without an error, along with Milwaukee's Geoff Jenkins and St. Louis' Orlando Palmeiro. He was also the first Marlin's outfielder to post a 1.000 fielding percentage in their history.
*His stint of 227 errorless games in the outfield was the second-longest streak in baseball behind the Met's Joe McEwing (228). [ [http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/team/player_career.jsp?player_id=113845&y=2004 Juan Encarnacion: Biography and Career Highlights | stlcardinals.com: Players ] ]
*Hit two grand slams in April 2005 (including one off Atlanta's John Smoltz on Opening Day), and became just the 16th player in history to record grand slams in their first two homers of the season. Encarnación only had one grand slam in his career prior to that. [ [http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/team/player_career.jsp?player_id=113845&y=2005 Juan Encarnacion: Biography and Career Highlights | stlcardinals.com: Players ] ]
*Has 4 career multi-homer games, two of them coming in 2006 with the Cardinals.
*On April 25, 2006, Encarnación fell a single short of a cycle against the Pittsburgh Pirates. [ [http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20060425&content_id=1418339&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl null | stlcardinals.com: News ] ]
*His 46 career triples rank 28th among active players. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/3B_active.shtml]
*As of July, 2008, he was 396th on the All-Time Home Run List, tied with Ken McMullen and Bob Meusel, with 156 home runs.

tatistics

Career Statistics:
"Hitting (through August 31, 2007)"

"162-Game Season Average"

Career honors and awards

*1997 – Southern League All-Star Team (Double-A) (Outfielder)
*1997 – Double-A All-Star Team (Baseball America)
*1997 – Southern League All-Star Game Most Valuable Player
*1997 – Southern League's Best Batting Prospect, Best Outfield Arm, and Most Exciting Player (Baseball America)
*1997 – One of baseball's Top 10 prospects (Howe Sportsdata)
*1998 – Detroit's Player of the Month (September)
*2000 – Detroit's Player of the Month (April)
*2003 – World Series Champion (Florida Marlins)
*2006 – World Series Champion (St. Louis Cardinals)

ee also

* Top 500 home run hitters of all time

References

External links

*baseballstats |mlb=113845 |espn=3743 |br=e/encarju01 |fangraphs=320 |cube=E/juan-encarnacion
* [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/5904/ Yahoo! Sports] stats and photos from Yahoo! Sports
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=encarju01 Baseball Almanac] - career stats
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/E/Encarnacion_Juan.stm BaseballLibrary.com] - info and biography
* [http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/teams/players/bio/?id=1513&hubname=mlb-cardinals TSN.ca] - scouting report, transactions, awards, etc.