Cleveland Indians: Edwin Encarnacion slowly heating up in May

Cleveland Indians designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion got off to a slow start, but he looks to be turning it around at the start of May.

Monday night was a special night for Edwin Encarnacion, as he returned home to Toronto and received a great ovation. He proceeded to hit a liner right off Marcus Stroman, but the love never faded.

Encarnacion was a key part of the Blue Jays teams that restored greatness to the franchise, so it was nice to see the fans show him some love even though he now dons a Cleveland Indians jersey.

The applause seemed to do some good, as Encarnacion went 2-for-3 Monday night, while drawing a walk. It was his fourth consecutive game with at least one hit, raising his May batting average to .333.

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He only has one home run this month, and five on the year, but it appears he is beginning to turn things around at the plate. A nice stat is that he only has five strikeouts so far in May after striking out 35 times in April. If he continues to keep having quality at-bats, the home runs will come.

This slight turnaround is nice, but it is clear Encarnacion needs to begin driving in some more runs. He only has 11 RBI this year, although the entire team has only scored 130 runs in what has been a run-deprived start to the year.

Some fans may be panicking, but the production will come. Watching Encarnacion at the plate shows he is still tracking the ball well. He also has a .361 on-base percentage, so he is making up for the lack of power by getting on base and increasing the team’s chances of scoring.

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Encarnacion is a key piece to help to turn this offense around, but he is far from the main problem with this group. If his start to the month indicates anything, it is that he is improving with each passing day. Perhaps the boost he received last night from the Toronto fans will pay dividends moving forward.