The hottest hitter on the planet has been massively overlooked.
But he did all he could to change that Saturday afternoon, breaking through the star power of his teammates to shine as bright as any player has this season.
Edwin Encarnacion was already on a tear during August when he went into Saturday’s game, and he put everyone who might have been sleeping on him this month on high alert that, at the moment, he might be the best of Toronto’s vaunted bunch.
Encarnacion hit three home runs, prompting his Canadian fans to throw their hats onto the field, and drove in nine runs in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 15-1 stomping of the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre, furthering his candidacy as the American League’s best player in August. Before Saturday’s barrage, the designated hitter led the Junior Circuit this month with a 227 wRC+, a .500 wOBA, a .797 slugging percentage and a 1.234 OPS, and he was second in isolated power (.419), according to Fangraphs.
“He was hot,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus told reporters. “He was hot before we got here, and he certainly hasn’t cooled off.”
.@Encadwin all smiles after his #HatTrick today! 💪 pic.twitter.com/1zMRCpjbu7
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 29, 2015
On Saturday, he also extended his hitting streak to 24 games, the longest in Major League Baseball this season. He is hitting .400 (36-90) with 10 home runs and 34 RBI in that stretch to go with a .462 OBP, an .856 slugging percentage and a 1.318 OPS.
Since the All-Star break, Encarnacion went into Saturday hitting .351/.434/.684 with a 1.118 OPS. He knew not to press for power. He knew it would come, and when it finally did, he stole the show by making history as the only player in franchise history to have a three-homer, nine-RBI game.
“That’s going to come, I just have to keep taking good swings and making good contact and the power is going to come back,” Encarnacion told Shi Davidi of SportsNet earlier this month. “I don’t worry about that, I still have my power, just keep trying to hit the ball in the right spot.”
The thing is not many people knew exactly how hot Encarnacion was before he smoked a grand slam, a three-run homer and a two-run shot Saturday, making him the second Toronto player to ever record nine RBI in a single game.
The reason for the anonymity is because the Blue Jays are now loaded, and offensive outbursts like the one they had against Detroit are becoming commonplace for this team. Since Aug. 2, the Blue Jays have outscored their competition 153-70. That is an 83-run differential, and the club is a ridiculous 20-4 in that time to help them to the top spot in the AL East.
Further burying Encarnacion in the headlines is that he looks up in the lineup and there are three superstar players hitting in front of him—Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista. And on every fifth game, he can look on the mound and see David Price, yet another established star to attract attention from Encarnacion.
Encarnacion credits the All-Star break with rejuvenating his season. He was dealing with nagging injuries before that, and in the 14 games before the break he hit .163 (8-for-49).
“Those four days were very good for me because I wasn’t 100 per cent with injuries in my groin and shoulder,” Encarnacion told Davidi. “Now I feel ready; I feel good and I can let it go.”
He certainly did that Saturday, as he has for the entire second half. While Price, Tulowitzki, Donaldson and Bautista get most of the publicity on this team, much of the production belongs to Encarnacion. As did this day that brought on a newly learned custom for the 32-year-old native Dominican.
“[Dioner Navarro] told me when they score three goals, I think, they do that,” Encarnacion told reporters of the fans throwing hats on the field, a tradition normally designated for hockey hat tricks. “It made me feel happy.”
It’s also making the Blue Jays ecstatic. His blazing bat allows those other three in front of him to see at least the occasional hittable pitch, because no one wants guys on base for the cleanup hitter, Encarnacion. And while the trades for Price and Tulowitzki and the MVP candidacy of Donaldson are what people focus on when discussing this team, Encarnacion has just forced his way into the international discussion about the Blue Jays.
If that continues to be the case, he won’t be overlooked any longer, and he will help make the Blue Jays difficult to pick against come October.
All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.
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