Fantasy Baseball: Can Edwin Encarnacion Continue to Swing a Hot Bat?

We knew the power potential was there. After all, Edwin Encarnacion has hit 38 home runs over the past two seasons in just 230 games. At that rate he would hit 27 home runs in a 162-game season—pretty solid number for a player with third base eligibility.

He was not without his warts, though. Sure, he improved his batting average to .272 last year, which was the first time he cracked the .252 mark since 2007, but he barely drove in any runs.

Encarnacion had 55 RBI last year and 51 in 2010. Those are pretty small RBI totals for a guy that hit 17 and 21 HRs, respectively. At least he scored runs at a solid clip last year (70) as opposed to 2010 when he managed just 47 runs despite those 21 HRs.

So far this year he’s firing on all cylinders. Encarnacion is hitting .279 with 17 runs, nine home runs, 25 RBI and four stolen bases in 29 games.

If you extrapolate his early start he’d finish hitting .279 with 95 runs, 50 home runs, 140 RBI and 22 stolen bases. While I don’t think he’ll come close to the home run, RBI or stolen base totals, a .275-95-35-110-10 line would not be out of the question.

Encarnacion will have to hit better on the road to continue his breakout season. He’s hitting just .190 with a .520 OPS away from the Rogers Centre. Sure, he’s killing it at home (.377, 1.366 OPS), but he’ll only play half his games there.

Encarnacion is in the midst of a nasty slump where he has just two hits in 21 May at-bats, including going 0-for-14 in his past four games. He’s part of a powerful lineup and has the green light to swing for the fences. If you own him, keep riding the wave.

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