Kuzul

As a long offseason begins for the Toronto Blue Jays, star slugger Edwin Encarnacion will be on the shelf for a period of time due to a sports hernia.   

Continue for updates. 

Encarnacion Undergoes Surgery

Tuesday, Oct. 27

According to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca, Encarnacion had surgery to fix the sports hernia Tuesday and “will be fine” when the Blue Jays open spring training in February. 

Encarnacion also offered an Instagram update on the procedure:

Encarnacion has a $10 million team option for 2016 that is almost certain to be picked up. There’s no logical reason it wouldn’t be, as the 32-year-old is a bargain at that price after posting an OPS over .900 each of the last four seasons. 

The postseason was a struggle for Encarnacion, which may be explained in part by the sports hernia. He had just three extra-base hits in 11 games, including none in the first five games of the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals.

Despite losing in the ALCS, the Blue Jays are set up to be playoff contenders again in 2016 with a potent lineup that features Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki.

Encarnacion has more than three months to recover from his sports hernia surgery before spring training starts, so there’s no reason to think he won’t return next season ready to post another 30-homer, 100-RBI campaign. 

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They, in all their they-y wisdom, say that great pitching always beats great hitting. It’s a notion that at least sounds logical, so it must be true.

We can say one thing, though: With Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion leading the charge, the Toronto Blue Jays‘ offense is pretty well-equipped to disprove that notion this October.

In case you’ve just returned to earth following an extended stay on Mars (welcome back, Mark Watney!), you should know that the AL East champions’ offense really is scary. Like, scary enough to lead all of Major League Baseball in runs, home runs and OPS. As Tom Verducci put it in Sports Illustrated, Toronto’s offense is “a throwback offense to the days when there was no PED testing in baseball.”

Yeah, that scary. And though the Blue Jays enjoyed significant contributions from up and down their lineup, the fearsome threesome of Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion did the heavy lifting. Behold:

Even without context, these are numbers that are liable to make you say “Yowza” out loud. But a bit of context is liable to make you put it in all caps and shout it.

For example, Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion all finished in the top 10 in MLB in OPS+, which adjusts OPS to league average. They’re also the first trio of teammates to finish with OPS+’s of at least 149 since Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen on the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals.

But meh. Why paint Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion as the best offensive trio in recent memory when they can be painted as maybe the best offensive trio ever? 

That’s what Joe Posnanski did at NBC Sports, noting that the Donaldson-Bautista-Encarnacion trio is the first in baseball history to each top 35 homers and 100 RBI with an OBP of at least .370 and an OPS+ of at least 140.

As Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada told the Associated Pres (via FoxSports.com): “I’m extremely happy that I don’t have to face them because I get to watch them hit every day and it’s a scary lineup.”

Such is the challenge facing the Blue Jays’ list of opponents this postseason, which begins with the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series on Thursday. All they have to do is go up against the league’s most explosive offense, led by an all-time great offensive trio, and find a way to put up zeroes.

One wants to say, “No pressure, man.” But one can’t. All of the pressure, man.

But can it be done? 

Honestly, the best anyone can say is maybe.

When one is dealing with a threat as enormous as the heart of the Blue Jays offense, it behooves one to search for a specific weakness. The Death Star had its two-meter exhaust port. Surely the Donaldson-Bautista-Encarnacion has one of its own.

It’s not immediately apparent, though.

One thing Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion all have in common is that they swing from the right side of the plate, but they’re not vulnerable to the platoon advantage. All three posted OPS’s of over .900 against right-handed pitching in 2015, making them three of the top 10 right-on-right hitters in MLB. 

So, scratch that. And no, they didn’t have reverse splits either. Donaldson crushed left-handers the most with a 1.024 OPS, but neither Bautista nor Encarnacion did worse than .830. Scratch that, too.

Moving on, one thing that tends to be plentiful in October is power pitching. But before one can even ponder the notion that perhaps Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion can simply be blown away, one notices that all three finished 2015 with strikeout percentages under the MLB average of 20.4.

On that note, Baseball-Reference.com says all three handled “power” pitchers better than the average major leaguer (.656 OPS). Same goes for “finesse” pitchers, as all three annihilated the average OPS (.760) against them.

Ah, but with them being power-oriented hitters and everything, perhaps they can be easily silenced by pitchers who specialize in ground balls!

…Nope. Not that either. The average MLB hitter had a .714 OPS against ground-ball pitchers. Neither Donaldson nor Bautista nor Encarnacion did worse than a .950 OPS against said pitchers.

These are easy go-to areas for potential weaknesses, and Toronto’s trio has them all covered. It’s almost as if they’re really good hitters! Whaddya know.

However…

Yeah, you knew it was coming. Nobody’s perfect. Least of all hitters, as even the best of them are vanquished in the majority of their plate appearances. Lo and behold, not even Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion are perfect.

They’re definitely dangerous, and what makes them dangerous is their power. Especially, as one can tell from looking at their zone profiles at Brooks Baseball, against pitches on the inner two-thirds of the strike zone.

That’s where Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion preferred to swing their bats in 2015, and Baseball Savant can crunch the numbers and tell us they did considerable damage in those regions:

• Donaldson: .375 AVG, .755 SLUG
• Bautista: .300 AVG, .771 SLUG
• Encarnacion: .317 AVG, .714 SLUG

Simply from looking at this, we can make a Sherlockian deduction that it’s a good idea for opposing pitchers to not tempt fate in the inner two-thirds of the zone against Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion.

But if you go back and look at where they’ve hit for power, you’ll notice there’s one region where they’re actually quite vulnerable: low and away.

Which makes sense. These are three guys who aren’t exactly going up to the plate looking to knock singles to right field. They’re looking to get all Hulk-like and do some smashing. It’s no wonder they were largely held in check on pitches on and off the outside corner in 2015:

• Donaldson: .149 AVG, .223 SLUG
• Bautista: .201 AVG, .254 SLUG
• Encarnacion: .232 AVG, .366 SLUG

Admittedly, this is the very definition of a cherry-picked weakness. But as far as Toronto’s postseason competition should be concerned, that it’s not totally random and also potentially exploitable makes it better than nothing.

Which leads us to just one question: Which playoff team is best equipped to pound Toronto’s vaunted trio low and away?

If we use Baseball Savant to find which playoff teams threw the highest percentage of low-and-away pitches against right-handed batters, we get this:

According to this data, the Rangers may not present much of a challenge. Though Colby Lewis and Yovani Gallardo did fine at 19.7 and 21.0 percent, respectively, Texas ace Cole Hamels threw only 15.9 percent of his pitches low and away to right-handed batters. Then there’s Derek Holland, who did so with fewer than 10 percent of his pitches.

The Kansas City Royals look like even less of a threat, and that’s no mirage. Of their top three starting pitchers—Yordano Ventura, Johnny Cueto, Edinson Volquez—none even so much as topped 16 percent low-and-away pitches to right-handed batters.

On the other hand, there are the Houston Astros. It’s not surprising to see them atop the list, as Grantland’s Ben Lindbergh noted back in May that pounding hitters low and away is a house specialty in Houston. Dallas Keuchel led the way by throwing a whopping 32.1 percent of his pitches low and away to righties, and Scott Kazmir (20.6) and Collin McHugh (19.4) did well in their own right.

Should the Blue Jays meet the Astros in the ALCS, an upset could be in the works. If not, the Blue Jays wouldn’t necessarily be out of the woods if they happened to be matched up against the Chicago Cubs/Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. That’s where they would run into low-and-away masters Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Jason Hammel.

Mind you, one assumes Donaldson, Bautista and Encarnacion aren’t quaking in their boots at the thought of all this. Baseball players don’t even wear boots, for one. For two, there is the reality that well-laid plans don’t always become well-executed plans. Even if teams decide they’re going to do nothing but pound Toronto’s trio low and away, it’ll be a plan with a relatively small margin for error.

Put another way, the notion that the Donaldson-Bautista-Encarnacion trio does indeed have its own two-meter exhaust port doesn’t make the three of them any less dangerous. That weakness was there all season, after all, and yet they still put up numbers and helped put the Blue Jays on what looks like a direct and smooth path back to the World Series.

Yes, the Blue Jays’ vaunted trio can be stopped. But do not assume even for one second that they will be stopped.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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Wednesday’s plethora of MLB games allows DraftKings participants to make the most out of low-value offensive options. Pitching aces such as Max Scherzer, Matt Harvey and Clayton Kershaw are a few of the upper-tier pitchers set to take the mound on Wednesday.

With a focus set on bargain positional players in order to make room for high-quality pitching options, here are the best DraftKings fantasy baseball picks for Wednesday.

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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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If you’re a fan of the invisible parrot Edwin Encarnacion takes for a stroll as he rounds the bases after home runs, you were in luck Saturday.

The Toronto Blue Jays slugger went 3-for-5, mashing three home runs and driving in nine runs in a 15-1 win over the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre. According to Ryan Field of Fox Sports, only one other player in Blue Jays history has attained nine RBI in a game:

Encarnacion’s first dinger of the game, a three-run shot for Toronto’s first runs of the day, came against Buck Farmer in the first inning. The home run also extended Encarnacion’s hit streak to 24 games:

It’s safe to say Encarnacion has been the most dangerous hitter in baseball during this stretch, as the Canadian Press’ Stephen Whyno noted:

Guido Knudson was the next pitcher to suffer at the hands of Encarnacion, who belted a two-run home run in the sixth that left the building in a hurry. With the Blue Jays already holding a 7-1 lead, Encarnacion scorched Knudson’s offering, delivering a rocket that cleared the left field wall in a little over three seconds.

Encarnacion put the cherry on top of his big day in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and the game out of sight, he whipped the Toronto crowd into a frenzy by hitting an opposite-field grand slam that just cleared the right-center field wall.

Rounding the bases, fans threw their caps on the field, celebrating Encarnacion’s hat-trick of home runs on Saturday. The hero of the day took to Twitter and Instagram after the game:

Things have been going swell for the team north of the border, as the Blue Jays are now two games clear of the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East.

Toronto is the hottest team in baseball, posting a 23-5 record since July 29 while pouring in runs as the majors’ most explosive team. A lot of that is thanks to Encarnacion, who represents a nightmare for any opposing pitcher.

Videos courtesy of MLB.com.

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The Toronto Blue Jays made big news late last week, executing a blockbuster trade with the Oakland A’s, receiving Josh Donaldson in exchange for Brett Lawrie and three prospects.

This comes after the Jays shelled out $82 million for free agent catcher Russell Martin on November 20. 

Continuing the philosophy that general manager Alex Anthopoulos and the rest of the front office have implemented recently, the Blue Jays want to win now.  The Yankees, Red Sox and Rays all struggled last year, but Toronto wasn’t able to capitalize, finishing 83-79 and third in the AL East.

However, they were without one of their best hitters for most of 2014.  Edwin Encarnacion played in only 128 games because of a quad injury he suffered in Baltimore in July, and Brett Lawrie missed over half the season.  Those two injuries caused the Jays to have to shuffle a variety of mediocre players at the corner infield positions.

But with Donaldson, who is one of the most consistent players in the game over the past two seasons, the Blue Jays offense has the potential to be among the most productive in the league.

Shortstop Jose Reyes starts it off at the top of the order, giving them a steady leadoff hitter when healthy.  Even though he has lost a step at age 31, he still stole 30 of 32 attempts in 2014 and got on base at a solid .328 clip.  If he can find a way to stay on the field for 140 to 150 games, he has the skills to be one of the best leadoff hitters in the MLB.

If Reyes can get on base on a regular basis, he will have no trouble scoring an abundance of runs.  Jose Bautista, Encarnacion and Donaldson comprise one of the scariest 3-4-5 hearts of the order in the game.  Manager John Gibbons has not yet announced where he plans to place Donaldson in the lineup, but I assume it will be either third, in front of Bautista and Encarnacion, or fifth, behind the two power studs.

And, if the Jays choose to re-sign Melky Cabrera, CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman tweeted that they were interested, he would occupy the second spot, and Toronto would have arguably the best top of the order in all of baseball.  

Bautista and Encarnacion are monsters.  Bautista has averaged better than 37 home runs and 93 RBI in the past five years, and Encarnacion has averaged the same number of homers and 104 RBI.  Even when Encarnacion missed more than 30 games last year, he still managed to record 34 dingers.

Donaldson thinks along the same lines.  He was very optimistic about his new opportunity in Toronto.

“You start looking at the capability of this lineup and the potential that it brings,” Donaldson told the Associated Press via ESPN.com.  “I’m going to venture to say there’s probably not going to be another lineup as potent as this in major league baseball.”

Not only will the team be more potent with the addition of the All-Star third baseman, but Donaldson’s power numbers should rise significantly playing in his new home park. 

In a recent article in the New York Daily News, Bill Madden quoted a veteran scout saying this about Josh Donaldson:

Donaldson, with his righthanded power, could be a monster in the AL East.  Just think about it — he’s trading home games in Oakland for home games in Toronto, as well as 19 games in Seattle for 19 games in Boston and Baltimore, each.  It’s a great pickup for them and you’ve got to love their lineup now.

Madden is talking about the reputation of the AL East ballparks being more hitter-friendly than AL West ballparks.  Toronto, Boston and Baltimore are known for dramatically raising power numbers, while Seattle and Oakland are where power hitters go to die.

The Blue Jays are a team on the rise, a talented roster that has not yet been able to put anything together.  They have not played in a postseason game in 21 years, the longest active streak in the MLB.

So it is pretty safe to assume that the Toronto offense is going to be very good, but they could use some help in the pitching department.  They have a decent starting rotation consisting of R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Marcus Stroman and Drew Hutchinson, but they need to add an arm or two to the back end of the bullpen.

Even though they let Casey Janssen, their closer the past three seasons, walk in free agency, they are back in contention for his services, according to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. 

They hope top prospect Daniel Norris can contribute at the big league level in 2015, but it’s nearly impossible to project how he would perform out of the bullpen.

As they are now, the Blue Jays have added enough hitting help to improve their record by at least a handful of victories.  But if they can add a pitcher via trade or free agency or find a hidden gem in their farm system, the Jays have what it takes to end their playoff drought. 

And who knows, maybe they can be 2015’s version of the Kansas City Royals.

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Canadians haven’t had any luck lately. First, Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard lose at Wimbledon. Now, the Toronto Blue Jays have lost Edwin Encarnacion to injury. The first baseman left Saturday night’s game against the Oakland Athletics after hurting his leg, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet:

The Blue Jays made things official:

MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm reported specifics:

Encarnacion has been one of the Blue Jays’ best hitters this season.

He drove in a run on Saturday to boost his total to 70 RBI on the season, which is tied with Nelson Cruz for the major league lead. The 31-year-old is also second to Cruz and Jose Abreu for the major league lead in home runs. His 26 dingers are one behind the duo.

The Blue Jays will have four days off in a few weeks for the All-Star Game to help Encarnacion recover, but depending on the severity of the injury, it may not matter.

Few players have been more integral to Toronto’s success this season, and with the Baltimore Orioles tied for the American League East lead and the New York Yankees only three games back, the Blue Jays may find themselves slowly slipping down the division standings the longer that their first baseman is off the field.

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There are plenty of bubble players for the 2014 MLB All-Star rosters, but some have already locked up spots.

These players are not only guaranteed All-Stars, but they’re MVP and Cy Young candidates as well.

4. SS Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies

Tulowitzki is on pace to finish with one of the highest batting averages since the turn of the century. He leads the majors with a .350 batting average. If he maintains it, he’ll finish with the highest average since John Hamilton hit .359 in 2010. 

While there are several contact hitters on Tulowitzki’s tail for the league lead in batting average, his power gives him a huge edge when it comes to who is most deserving of an All-Star roster spot. He also boasts 47 RBI and 18 home runs, which ties him for the ninth highest total in the league.

3. RHP Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees

Tanaka wasted no time not only becoming the Yankees’ best pitcher but one of the best pitchers in baseball. He leads the majors with 12 wins in 17 starts this season. And in those 12 starts, he’s established quite the stat line.

He has struck out 130 batters, tying him for fifth most in the league, and recorded a 2.27 ERA and 0.97 WHIP, ranking him fourth and fifth, respectively. He’s also walked fewer batters than any pitcher with double-digit wins. The 25-year-old will be on this list for years to come.

2. 1B Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto Blue Jays

No one has created more runs for his team than Encarnacion this season. Entering Friday night’s action, he’s racked up a league-leading 69 RBI, many of which have come off his league-leading 26 home runs. While Nelson Cruz and Jose Abreu have produced comparable numbers in the race to be baseball’s best power hitter, Encarnacion earns the edge with contact.

He has a higher batting average than both Cruz and Abreu. He also has a higher on-base percentage, having drawn 43 walks. He’s the greatest reason why the Blue Jays are the fourth highest-scoring team in the league this year.

1. RHP Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners

Hernandez doesn’t have as many wins as Tanaka (10), but that’s about the only number of Hernandez’s that isn’t better. He’s third in the majors with a 2.10 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP and 137 strikeouts. While he doesn’t lead the league in those categories, no other pitcher is consistently rated as high across the board.

King Felix has also allowed just four home runs in 18 starts and 96 hits in 128.1 innings pitched. No pitcher with more than 100 innings has allowed fewer homers. Out of all the elite pitchers this season, no one has been better than Hernandez.

David Daniels is a columnist at Bleacher Report. He tweets, too.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels

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Let’s travel back in time to 2011 and ponder what was then known about Edwin Encarnacion.

Having posted a .787 OPS two years in a row and holding a career .789 OPS, the Toronto Blue Jays slugger looked like a good, but not great, hitter. Heck, given Encarnacion’s .453 career slugging percentage and 2008 high-water mark of 26 home runs, the term “slugger” barely applied.

Now here we are in 2014, and the term “slugger” fits Encarnacion much better.

Before blasting yet another home run Monday night against the Minnesota Twins, Encarnacion entered the week with a .926 OPS and 97 homers since 2012, the most hit by a player not named Miguel Cabrera in that span. What’s more, FanGraphs had Encarnacion tied for seventh in slugging since 2012 at .553.

Now in his age-31 season, Encarnacion isn’t slowing down. His .602 slugging percentage is a career best, and his 20 homers put him on pace to top his 2012 career high of 42.

It all makes you want to ask how this has happened. How in the world did Encarnacion go from kinda-sorta-decent hitter to power-crazy nightmare?

Spoiler alert: It hasn’t happened by accident. 

One change Encarnacion has made has been well documented. As noted by Jack Moore of Sports on Earth in 2013 and FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan, Encarnacion’s swing is not what it used to be.

Let’s do a comparison of swings featured in videos of Encarnacion hitting a home run in Toronto in September of 2011 and another of him taking James Shields deep in Toronto on May 29. First up, here’s how he was set up at the plate then compared to how he’s set up at the plate now:

Encarnacion’s hands are lower, and his stance is more open than it used to be.

From this new stance comes a new timing mechanism, which we can see here at the point of release:

The biggest difference is in the leg kick. It’s become less pronounced than it was in 2011, which is something that can be for the best. Big leg kicks aren’t necessarily a bad idea, but they can get out of whack and throw off a hitter’s timing and balance.

But the leg kick isn’t the only difference. Encarnacion’s hands are now closer to his body than they were in 2011. Add that to the smaller leg kick, and you’re looking at a hitter who is more coiled up for an explosive attack than the one in 2011.

The last major difference is in Encarnacion’s follow-through:

Where Encarnacion once used a one-handed follow-through, he now uses a two-handed follow-through. And from the way he’s standing more upright in the image on the right, it certainly looks like he’s able to stay balanced through his swing better than he could before.

John Lott of the National Post reported in 2012 that these changes were the result of offseason work Encarnacion did with former big league outfielder Luis Mercedes. He told Encarnacion his swing was “too long and undisciplined,” and Encarnacion picked a good word to sum up how things have changed.

“My swing is more compact,” he said. “I can be more inside the ball and be more consistent.”

Given what we’ve looked at and the numbers this swing has produced, yeah, kinda hard to argue.

But we’ve also only scratched the surface. That Encarnacion has a new swing is important, but also important is how he has a new approach.

Since we’re discussing a hitter who’s taken his power game to the next level, you might think that last sentence would be a lead-in to how Encarnacion has done a better job of spreading his power around.

But nope. Encarnacion was a pull-power guy before, and he’s still a pull-power guy.

Here are some figures from FanGraphs:

True, the righty-hitting Encarnacion has pulled a smaller percentage of his homers to left field in the last couple years. But that’s still a lot of pulled home runs, as his 70 pulled homers since 2012 are 10 more than the next guy on the list (Blue Jays teammate Jose Bautista).

And one thing Encarnacion has improved with his pull power is his efficiency. He’s been hitting slightly fewer fly balls (FB%) to left field, but more of them over the fence (HR/FB):

When Encarnacion hits a ball in the air to his pull side these days, there’s a 40 percent chance of it leaving the yard. That’s pretty good.

The power Encarnacion is able to generate with his more explosive new swing is a factor there, but another factor is his pitch selection. He’s become more selective, and in the right kind of way.

One thing is that Encarnacion is swinging less often. Per FanGraphs, his swing percentage has gone from 47.1 percent through 2011 to 42.0 percent since 2012. That’s a pretty big drop in aggressiveness.

But just as important is where that drop in aggressiveness has taken place.

Courtesy of Brooks Baseball, here’s a look at where Encarnacion’s swings took place between 2007 and 2011 (him being a righty hitter, picture Encarnacion on the left side of the box):

Keep this in mind while you check out his swings since 2012:

The colors don’t make it too obvious, but check out the numbers on the away pitches. They’re smaller than they used to be.

Encarnacion is therefore doing what a good pull hitter should do. Rather than offer at pitchers’ pitches, he’s letting those go more frequently and offering at pitches he can pull instead.

Doing so has been worth his while. According to BaseballSavant.com, 70 of Encarnacion’s 97 homers since 2012 have come on pitches on the inner two-thirds of the zone or off the inside edge of the zone.

And when you look at the hit heat map, you won’t be surprised where the bulk of these homers have landed:

That’s a lot of homers to left field. Thus Encarnacion is doing a better job of waiting for pull-able pitches and not missing them when they come.

Jeff Sullivan uncovered how there’s more to that story. In looking at Encarnacion’s homers in 2014, he found that the majority of them have come on pitches that were supposed to be down and away but missed. Encarnacion’s not just laying off pitchers’ pitches, but also punishing pitchers who fail to make pitchers’ pitches.

Basically: No, there’s not much opposing pitchers can do to adapt to the hitter Encarnacion has become.

Keeping pitches away from him is certainly the safe way to go, but less than a foolproof way to get him out given the diminished frequency at which he’s offering at outside pitches. And while an order for pitchers to not make mistakes in Encarnacion’s danger zone is good advice, mistakes are going to happen. When pitchers make them, they’ll just have to hope Encarnacion misses them.

Which is unlikely. With his refined swing and sharpened approach, Encarnacion has made himself into a model of efficiency. He’s not just a pull-power guy, but what a pull-power guy should be.

I sort of want to conclude with a “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” message that suggests any hitter can reinvent himself like Encarnacion has done. But if that was true, we’d presumably see more guys turn into elite sluggers in their late 20s and early 30s. It’s not that easy.

All the more reason to appreciate how Encarnacion has done it.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked. 

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Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Edwin Encarnacion produced his fifth multi-homer game this May in Thursday’s 8-6 loss to the Kansas City Royals, matching the MLB record for most multi-homer games in a calendar month, per Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi.

The other two players to accomplish the feat—Harmon Killebrew and Albert Belle—were also prolific sluggers of their time. Killebrew, a Hall of Famer who played from 1954 to 1975, sits in 11th place on the all-time home runs list with 573 dingers.

Belle probably won’t ever make it to the Hall, but he was unquestionably one of the most feared sluggers in the 1990s, an era known for power-hitting behemoths. With Belle, Machiavelli’s quote that “it’s better to be feared than to be loved” comes to mind.

As for Encarnacion, the Toronto slugger’s assault on the record books may not be complete. His second long ball Thursday gave him 16 in May, matching Mickey Mantle’s American League record and pulling within one of Barry Bonds’ MLB record, per the Blue Jays’ official website.

Looking to a more notable piece of history, Rudy York set the AL mark for most homers in any calendar month with his 18 round-trippers in August 1937. Sammy Sosa holds the MLB record, having somehow crushed 20 homers in June of his historic 1998 season.

With only two games remaining for the Jays in May, Encarnacion is a long shot to match York, and would need four more homers to tie Sosa. Of course, the way he’s been swinging, would anyone really be surprised if EE hits a few more homers in the last two days of his historic month?

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