Edwin Encarnación’s lips are pursed, his eyes are darting under the bill of his cap and his breathing is heavy. An eighth-inning chopper from Tampa Bay’s John Jaso has just eaten Encarnación alive for his second error on this May 18 night of woe, bringing his total to 10 for the season, nearly a third of the Toronto Blue Jays’ collective count of 31. He’s fortunate, in fact, that three earlier misplays didn’t end up on his tab, too. In a daze, showered by yet another round of boos, Encarnación wobbles back to first base to hold the runner on and hunches over, desperate for a respite that won’t come until the inning is over. Already longing to leave behind the “E5” moniker cruelly bestowed on him during his days as the Cincinnati Reds’ third baseman, he fears people will start calling him “E3.” And there’s no offence to speak of to compensate for the defensive struggles, his batting average down to .244 after an 0-for-4 performance, his home run drought at 32 games (he’d go 37 before hitting his first of the season), his grip on a big-league job slipping away. He is a player in crisis.
All that, of course, was last season. It’s a distant memory now as the 29-year-old puts the finishing touches on an unlikely breakout season that has ended the mocking and earned him adoration from fans who never wanted to see him again. On so many levels he’s carried the Blue Jays this year, which makes his emergence from castoff to core piece all the more remarkable. This is, after all, a guy who was little more than a salary dump back in 2009 in the deal that sent Scott Rolen to Cincinnati. And even since arriving in Toronto, he’s been dropped from the 40-man roster, injured, placed on waivers, claimed, non-tendered, re-signed, moved across the diamond, benched and written off. But now a franchise cornerstone, Encarnación is a reminder of why you don’t give up on talent.
While there was no single moment behind No. 10’s resurgence, an important starting point came when the Jays returned to action after the 2011 All-Star break and Alex Anthopoulos visited the clubhouse for a pre-game chat. The GM had spent plenty of time thinking about his struggling slugger. “There was nothing mechanically wrong,” Anthopoulos says. “The intriguing part about him was the hand-eye coordination; rarely will you see someone with that type of power and that type of contact ability. But because he can put the bat on the ball, he’d make more outs than maybe he should have.” The GM was fixated on two stats: nine walks and 39 strikeouts. Anthopoulos reminded Encarnación that during his best year, 2008, he’d walked 61 times. It was something home run king José Bautista had also talked to Encarnación about. “He said, ‘I know, I’ve got to be more selective,’” the GM remembers.
That night, Encarnación went 3-for-4 with a walk in a 16-7 victory over the Yankees, and the next day he was 1-for-2 with two more free passes. During his final 64 games of the 2011 season, Encarnación walked 34 times against 38 strikeouts, posting a .291 batting average and an .892 OPS. “I started to wait for my pitch,” he says.
But there’s far more at play in Encarnación’s turnaround than one timely chat with Anthopoulos. As pivotal was the decision to move him off third base, a position of misery for him starting in 2006 when he made 25 errors with the Reds. A good fielder with soft hands and impressive range, it was throwing the ball across the diamond that proved problematic. Encarnación made 39 errors combined in 2007 and ’08, and his misadventures in the field eventually overshadowed his production at the plate. The coaching staff ran him through near-constant throwing drills, while the fans’ taunts only grew louder. “It got to him a lot,” says former Reds teammate Adam Dunn. “He was out early every single day working on his motion, and if people had left him alone he would have made the throws.”
Inevitably, all that negative focus spilled over into the batter’s box. Encarnación opened the 2009 season hitting .127 in his first 19 contests and was mired in a 1-for-28 slide when tests revealed a chipped bone in his left wrist. The recovery took two months and although he appeared to regain some form after getting back in the lineup, Cincinnati was ready to move on. Third baseman Rolen, who had played for GM Walt Jocketty in St. Louis, had requested a trade out of Toronto for family reasons and the Reds were the only team interested. The two teams went back and forth on prospects until Jocketty finally relented to then-GM J.P. Ricciardi’s demand for right-hander Zach Stewart, on the condition that Encarnación and the roughly $6 million due to him in 2009 and ’10 be part of the trade. In need of a stopgap at third, Ricciardi reluctantly agreed. It was a dreadful way to end a career with one team and begin with another. “My wrist wasn’t healthy, I couldn’t swing the bat the way I’m supposed to, and that name, ‘E5,’ you don’t want to think about it,” says Encarnación. “It’s not easy when everyone is talking about [it]. I knew I was good, I knew I could do it, but it was too much pressure and I was a young guy.”
Encarnación still wasn’t that far removed from the kid who was a ballpark rat in La Romana, Dominican Republic. His dad, Elpidio, was the head of stadium security for the local team, Azucareros del Este, and took his son to every game. And when Elpidio changed jobs, Ramon Sambo, the team’s left fielder, would pick up Encarnación and take him to the ballpark on the back of his bike. By 10, Encarnación was playing against kids three or four years older and being hailed as a future star by his little league coach. But he had his worries. “I was mad at the beginning with my dad,” Encarnación remembers, “because my mom is little. I’d say, ‘Why did you marry my mom? Now I’m not going to be a baseball player because I’m going to be little; I’m not going to get big.’” But, after moving to Puerto Rico as a teenager, he did “get big” and in 2000 was drafted in the ninth round by Texas. A year later he cried “a lot” after being traded to Cincinnati—“I thought, wow, I suck”—but in 2005 made his big-league debut with the Reds, setting in motion his path to Toronto.
The Blue Jays offered a much needed fresh start, but things didn’t immediately get better. Encarnación made one trip to the disabled list in 2009 and two more in 2010, a season when he was optioned to the triple-A Las Vegas 51s, then outrighted to the minors the next day, a move that often signifies a player’s end with an organization. He was shocked—angry, in fact. But eventually he channelled those emotions into determination. “I said, ‘So what? I have to keep going and let them know I’m ready to go back to the major leagues,’” Encarnación recalls. He hit .438 in seven games with the 51s and was back with the Jays in 12 days. In his final 59 games at the big-league level, his average was .269 with 12 homers and 29 RBI. Not exactly inspiring stuff, especially when you consider five of those dingers and 10 of the runs batted in came in the final four games of the season. The Jays approached him about a contract that would pay him far less than he was making. When Encarnación balked, Anthopoulos placed him on waivers. Oakland claimed him as insurance in case they couldn’t sign their own third baseman, Kevin Kouzmanoff. But once they did, Encarnación was let go. After receiving tepid interest as a free agent, he was approached again by Toronto, which wanted to close the door on him as a third baseman, envisioning him as a DH and part-time first baseman. A one-year, $2.5-million deal was struck with a club option for 2012. The way it all went down served as a wake-up call. “For the first time in his career he didn’t have a team, and that can really focus guys,” says Jays hitting coach Dwayne Murphy.
Encarnación impressed in the spring of 2011 with a trimmed-down physique and increased mobility. Things went great until three days before Opening Day, when the Jays decided Juan Rivera was too much of a liability in right field, moved Bautista back there from third base and asked Encarnación to once again mind the hot corner. He hadn’t taken a single ball there all spring, and everything went off the rails. He made eight errors in just 74 chances, his woes on the field led to struggles at the plate, and eventually to a spot on the bench. “I felt like I’d never played third base before,” he remembers. “I was lost.”
The Jays reverted back to their original plan. Playing third, Encarnación was hitting .213 with three homers and eight RBI in 36 games; playing first or DH, he batted .298 with 14 homers, 24 doubles and 47 RBI, and made just four errors in 205 chances. “I always felt he had great hands and could handle different hops and different timings of balls,” says Bautista. “It’s just, throughout the years, he developed a bad habit with his throwing motion. The change in position has taken that out of the picture.”
The finishing touch on Encarnación’s turnaround came last off-season while working with hitting coach Luis Mercedes in the Dominican Republic, who also helps Yankees star Robinson Cano. Mercedes said Encarnación’s swing was too long and that his bat path was going around the ball rather than directly at it. “He told me to finish my swing with two hands instead of one,” says Encarnación. “Getting shorter and quicker, that’s made my swing [have] more impact.”
It certainly has. Encarnación has kept his average around .300 all year, while hitting 34 homers and driving in 89 by the end of August. And he’s only committed three errors in 572 chances. Without a doubt he’s been the club’s MVP through what’s turned into a miserable season. And in July, the Jays rewarded him with a three-year, $27-million deal with a $10-million option for 2016. “This doesn’t shock me,” says Anthopoulos. “It was in there. We sign a lot of guys on potential and ability, and we’re wrong a lot.” It took a while, but Encarnación has more than proven the Jays right.
This article originally appeared in Sportsnet Magazine.