Edwin Encarnacion and his Notable 128 Game Season

Sep 26, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion (10) singles in the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre. Toronto defeated Baltimore 4-2. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Edwin Encarnacion began his 2014 campaign with a truly horrific March and April.  In 27 very forgettable games, he hit only two home runs to go with a .250 batting average that disappointed Blue Jays fans and fantasy owners.  When the calendar turned to May, Edwin Encarnacion produced at a pace that may have only been surpassed by Mike Trout.

Overall, Encarnacion had a terrific season where his basic fantasy stat line provided 75 runs, 34 home runs, 98 RBI’s, 2 steals, and a .268 BA.  Those were roughly the expected numbers for a first round draft pick, but Edwin Encarnacion managed to pull that off in only 128 games played due to a strained quad.

Imagine if we were lucky enough to receive a full 162 game season from the Toronto slugger.  I was curious to see what the results would have been.  I found out that 162 games of Edwin Encarnacion would have led the league in both homers and RBI’s among qualified hitters if every qualified hitter played a full 162.

A full season of Edwin Encarnacion would have produced 95 runs, 43 home runs, 124 RBI’s, and a .901 OPS.  His .901 OPS was good enough to be eighth best in MLB. Those stats would have given Mike Trout a nice challenge as the top player in fantasy baseball.

However, since I looked at Encarnacion through 162 games, I want to give Trout and Jose Abreu (who was quite likely a top three offensive player on a per game basis) the same benefit of playing 162 games.

[table id=1287 /]

Encarnacion benefits the most from a HR/RBI perspective because even his two great American League counterparts are in pursuit of those gaudy hypothetical numbers.  On the other hand, Encarnacion is lacking in the batting average and OPS department.  I personally think that the OPS gap between the three players will shrink in 2015, while all three players will remain elite in that category.

We all knew that Trout would have a significant advantage in stolen bases, but he also has a gigantic lead in runs scored.  I guess this is not too surprising based on the fact that the Angels were the top run-scoring offense in the Majors in 2014.  Plus, Trout is an excellent base runner who puts himself in scoring position and scores more often than the average player.  Speed is the difference that makes Mike Trout go from a top fantasy player to the top fantasy player.

We can see that Edwin Encarnacion is just a bit short of per game production of Mike Trout and falls very close with Jose Abreu.  The table also demonstrates that Edwin Encarnacion could be just as valuable as almost any other player in the game.  While pretending to erase a strained quad is a major hypothetical, this exercise was used to show how amazing the options are at the top of the first base class.