The Cincinnati Reds donate an Autographed Photo of Third Baseman Edwin Encarnacion.

Encarnación was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the ninth round of the 2000 amateur draft and signed with them. On June 15, 2001, he was traded along with Rubén Mateo to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for pitcher Rob Bell. He made his big league debut on June 24, 2005 and saw action in 69 games. He finished with a .232 batting average and nine home runs.

Pundits believe that Encarnación has the tools to become a potent third baseman capable of 20-plus home runs. Defensively, he makes the difficult plays with relative ease, but botches too many routine ones and, in particular, makes ill-advised or errant throws to first base.[1] His 25 errors during the 2006 season tied him with Arizona's Chad Tracy for most errors by a third baseman and his fielding percentage was a National League-low .916. In 2005 he had the lowest zone rating of any National League third baseman: .741.