I watched a live game a few weeks before. The game was played at Rogers Centre, home to the Toronto Blue Jays. While watching the game, I saw a former player in the dugout.
That face looked familiar. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that it’s Edwin Encarnacion. Well, I wasn’t 100% sure whether it was Encarnacion or not. So, I decided to check if he has a role in the Blue Jays organization. He’s a special assistant to the organization.
While seeing Encarnacion in the Blue Jays dugout, I was just thinking about his days with the Blue Jays. He was surely an important player in the lineup. Nonetheless, in those days, how great was he? To solve my doubts, I decided to check on the great Fangraphs website.
Edwin Encarnacion was traded to the Blue Jays in 2009 and he spent 8 seasons with the Blue Jays. In those 8 seasons, he slashed .268/.355/.522 with 239 home runs and 679 RBI in 999 games. He didn’t play a full season with the Blue Jays in 2009. To make things easier, let’s look at the numbers from 2010 to 2016.
From 2010 to 2016, Edwin Encarnacion smashed 231 home runs, which ranked 3rd in those 7 seasons. Jose Bautista spent 15 seasons in the majors with 344 home runs. Among those 344 home runs, 249 came between 2010 and 2016. Moreover, Miguel Cabrera had 511 home runs in his career and from 2010 to 2016, he blasted 237 home runs. During the same period, Nelson Cruz, Albert Pujols and David Ortiz each crushed 220+ home runs.
In addition, let’s look at RBI. From 2010 to 2016, Miguel Cabrera collected 800 RBI. Meanwhile, Adrian Gonzalez had 722 RBI. Also, Albert Pujols and David Ortiz each collected 700+ RBI from 2010 to 2016. During the same period, Robinson Cano had 692 RBI and Adrian Beltre collected 665 RBI. Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista each collected 650+ RBI in those 7 seasons.
Finally, let’s look at OPS. From 2010 to 2016, among players who had at least 2000 plate appearances, there were 6 players who owned an OPS over .900. In particular, Mike Trout and Paul Goldschmidt are now still playing in the majors. They both made it into the big leagues in 2011. Additionally, Giancarlo Stanton made his MLB debut in 2010, in the first 7 seasons of his career, his OPS was .896. From 2010 to 2016, Edwin Encarnacion had an OPS over .880.
It was fun to see Edwin Encarnacion in the Blue Jays dugout. At the same time, looking back at his time with the Blue Jays, he was surely a dangerous hitter in the majors as we see several Hall of Famers or future Hall of Famers on the leaderboard. Meanwhile, we see Jose Bautista on the leaderboard in several hitting categories. Bautista and Encarnacion were teammates in the Blue Jays. Looking back at the stats from 2010 to 2016, we can certainly know that it was hard for a pitcher to face them in an inning.
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