TORONTO – Edwin Encarnacion says his mind is right.
He feels freed from a troubling start to the season, when he took his struggles on the field to the plate, and the subsequent troubles at the plate back onto the field.
When the errors piled up and hits did not, his confidence waned. He worried that the Toronto Blue Jays would lose faith in him. And when his playing time dwindled, he had to try not to think the worst.
"You don’t want to think that, but you think that and it was hard for me," Encarnacion says during a rare interview. "People think this game is easy. It’s not, it’s a hard game, especially if you don’t have your mind 100 per cent.
"Right now I have my confidence back."
There has been ample evidence of that lately, with Encarnacion batting .472 (17-for-36) over his last nine games heading into Thursday’s action.
For the month of July, he’s batting .344 (21-for-61) in 15 games, with two homers, five doubles and nine RBIs, and since starting at third base on June 24 at St. Louis, he’s been hitting .318 with seven doubles, five homers and 12 RBIs.
That’s more in line with the type of production the Blue Jays envisioned when they brought him back this winter on a US$2.5-million, one-year contract that includes a club option for 2012 for $3.5 million.
He is starting to reward their patience.
"I’m feeling great, I see the ball good, I’m being aggressive in the strike zone and that’s why I’ve been doing better," Encarnacion says.
That wasn’t the case as he spun his wheels through two unproductive months to start the season. Regarded as someone with 30-homer potential in the spring, he didn’t go deep until May 29, his 53rd game of the season.
By then he had made 11 errors and his defence was a regular subject of conversation for all the wrong reasons. The Blue Jays had hoped that by shedding some weight in the off-season, he could be a stop-gap option at third until prospect Brett Lawrie was ready, allowing Jose Bautista to remain in right field.
With only days remaining in spring training, the team decided to take that route and made him the starter at third, but by the middle of May, a committee of Jayson Nix, Mike McCoy and John McDonald were doing the bulk of the work there, while Encarnacion was left to mostly DH and pick up scraps.
On June 23, fed up with the lack of production on the hot corner, the Blue Jays decided to pull Bautista in from the outfield to open space for Eric Thames and eventually, Travis Snider, while Lawrie recovered from a broken hand.
At that point, even time at DH was going to be scarce unless Encarnacion picked things up.
That’s exactly what he did while filling in at third as Bautista transitioned from the outfield, producing at the plate and playing well in the field. Once his close friend was ready for the infield, Encarnacion found himself at DH and kept on hitting, and has filled in well at third base in recent days as Bautista recovers from a right ankle sprain.
Last week against the Yankees, Encarnacion dove to snare a Russell Martin grounder and spun from the ground into a throw to first for the out. Shortstop Yunel Escobar tipped his cap to him and starter Brandon Morrow called it one of the best plays ever made behind him.
"I know I can play third base, all my career I’ve played third base, sometimes things don’t go so good," Encarnacion says. "I’ve been playing better, I’ve been working hard, doing extra work, and prepared myself to play third base."
At minimum, he’s giving the Blue Jays more options with their plans at third.
Lawrie is in triple-A Las Vegas trying to get his timing at the plate back and after a rough start. He is likely to need some time to find the groove he was in before the injury.
The sample size is small, but if Encarnacion’s recent play is an indication, perhaps he’s no longer the liability he was earlier in the year.
"More than anything he feels good offensively, and that’s carried over in the confidence out in the field defensively for him," says manager John Farrell. "And he’s made some great plays.
"He’s going to get regular at-bats, whether they come at a position in the field or at the DH spot. He’s doing a very good job."
Either way, Encarnacion feels he’s going to be ready to contribute.
Though he’s batting .321 as a DH versus .234 while playing the field, he prefers playing both sides of the game, but says he will do whatever the team asks. There are just over two months remaining and he is aiming to salvage his season with a strong finish.
"It’s something hard when I always have been playing regularly at third base," he says of his first-half troubles. "You just have to try and do the adjustment and do things right for the team.
"It’s not easy playing DH. Sometimes when you don’t play defence the way you’re supposed to, that comes to your mind (at the plate).
"Now I have my mind clear."
