Edwin Encarnación

Edwin Elpidio Encarnación (born January 7, 1983) is a Dominican professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Cincinnati Reds, where he was primarily a third baseman.

Professional career

Cincinnati Reds

Encarnación was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the ninth round of the 2000 amateur draft and signed with them. On June 15, 2001, he was traded, along with Rubén Mateo, to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for pitcher Rob Bell. He made his big league debut on June 24, 2005 and played in 69 games. He finished with a .232 batting average, 9 home runs, and 31 RBI.

In the 2006 season, Encarnación played 117 games for the Reds, and batted .276 with 15 home runs and 72 RBI. Encarnación won the National League Player of the Week award for the week of August 7–13. During the week, he led the league with 4 home runs and 24 total bases, batting .440 with 8 RBI.

In 2007 Encarnación started the year slowly, struggling to bat over .200. He was frequently benched in favor of Ryan Freel, which gave Josh Hamilton, who was attempting to resurrect his career after it was derailed by addiction to drugs and alcohol, more starts in center field. Encarnación was benched again at one point by then manager Jerry Narron for not running out a fly ball. On May 10, 2007, Encarnación was demoted to the Reds' Triple-A affiliate in Louisville, Kentucky, the Bats. He was recalled to the Major Leagues on May 22, 2007. For the 2007 season, Encarnación batted .289 with 16 home runs and 76 RBI.