November 10, 2008 MLB.com reports that Juan Encarnacion filed for free agency on Monday. The 32-year-old has not played since August 30, 2007, when he was struck in the face by a foul ball while he stood in the on-deck circle at Busch Stadium. He suffered severe vision impairment as a result of the incident and spent all of 2008 away from the team recuperating. "I believe he still has a difficult road ahead," Cardinals' general manager John Mozeliak said.
Our View:He had been a good bench outfielder for fantasy teams in the years leading up to the injury. It remains to be seen if he will be able to return to a starting job next season.
March 25, 2008 Juan Encarnacion has been placed on the 15-day DL due to his recovery from a fractured eye socket. It remains to be decided if he can play again.
January 16, 2008 The eye injury that Juan Encarnacion suffered in late August last year will likely keep the outfielder from playing in 2008, and the Cardinals aren't sure if he'll ever play again. Encarnacion was standing in the on-deck circle on Aug. 31 when a foul ball struck him in the left eye, fracturing the orbital bone and causing damage to his vision that he may never regain. "As far as an update on whether he'll play or not I would say it's probably likely he will not," GM John Mozeliak told the AP. "But until we actually see him in St. Louis and get our own doctors to deal with that, it will be hard for me to answer that firmly."
September 17, 2007 Juan Encarnacion is in Boston visiting an eye specialist to judge the improvement in his left eye. He is also considering treatments for the potentially career-threatening injury, which occurred when he was struck by a foul ball while standing on the on-deck circle, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Encarnacion will require surgery to repair fractures to the orbital bone, but doctors have been more concerned with possible damage to his optic nerve.
September 5, 2007 Juan Encarnacion was released from the hospital on Tuesday, but doctors have yet to decide when surgery will take place to repair his fractured left eye socket, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "He's still dealing with post-concussion syndrome," trainer Barry Weinberg said. "Even though his eye is the major long-term concern, right now he's dealing with a serious concussion. ... He still has those side effects. The combination of the eye and the concussion ... is significant." Although nothing is set in stone, Encarnacion's baseball career is in jeopardy.
