CLEVELAND _ A slow start followed by the pummeling of baseballs in June? Edwin Encarnacion is simply having a traditional Edwin Encarnacion-like season.
Encarnacion has been among baseball's most prolific hitters over the previous five seasons. In most of those seasons, it took him some time to get going offensively. Historically, April has been Encarnacion's worst month at the plate, but as the calendar turns to late May and then June, he's consistently been one of the more lethal hitters in any lineup.
It's happening again, and it should help to calm some quick-trigger concerns with the Indians' $60 million investment.
According to FanGraphs, Encarnacion has a career 103 wRC-plus through the end of April. By June, that's up to 152, meaning he's 52 percent better than the average hitter. In July and August, he's maintained a wRC-plus of at least 130. The general trend is once the weather warms up, so does Encarnacion.
All of this was pointed out in early May, when Twitter was ablaze with hot takes about the free agent who received the largest contract in franchise history underperforming. The fact that he's simply on a regular-season arc has now been confirmed.
This April, he was slow out of the gate to the tune of a 92 wRC-plus. That was upped to 121 in May. In June, he's exploded. His 197 wRC-plus ranks seventh in baseball. This month he's hitting .343 with a .458 on-base percentage and 1.159 OPS. He's slugged seven home runs and three doubles and driven in 18 runs in 19 games entering Saturday.
"He's done that his whole career," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "He's a dangerous hitter and he's hot. You don't do that all the time, but you go through periods. Sometimes, you can tell he feels (good). Like right in the middle of this, he walked four times in Minnesota. He didn't go out of the zone. But then, when he got pitches to hit, he whacked them."
The largest free-agent addition in terms of dollars in team history has certainly done what he was supposed to do _ bolster of the middle of the Indians lineup with arguably the most dangerous hitter to come to Cleveland since the early 2000s.
It's why Francona and the Indians were never overly concerned with Encarnacion's slower start. Encarnacion, meanwhile, says he doesn't pay attention to those trends. When asked if there was any reason he felt more comfortable in June, he indicated he had grown tired of getting that question. But the pattern is there. And right now the Indians are benefiting.
"His track record is too good," Francona said. "And for whatever reason, guys get just as hot as they get cold. Other than that, I don't know how to explain it. The good ones get to their level. When they're as hot as he is, it's fun to watch. You start winning some games that maybe you wouldn't normally win, just because of one guy."
