Cleveland Indians: Edwin Encarnacion season preview

Edwin Encarnacion is entering his second season in a Cleveland Indians uniform. What could his 2018 look like as our season preview series continues.

There was a slight adjustment period for Encarnacion last season as he got off to a slow start in the month of April. Thankfully, he was able to turn that around quickly and put up a very nice season for the Tribe in 2017.

The Indians’ DH finished the year with a .258/.377/.504 slash line with 20 doubles, 38 homers, 107 RBIs, 104 walks, and 133 strikeouts. The batting average was a little below what he’s normally been at the past few years but he made up for it with a lot of walks and his usual power numbers.

Encarnacion will be 35 this season and will be owed just under $19 million this year. Even with a new team, he’s shown no real signs of slowing down and his increased number of walks shows that he could be getting an even stronger eye at the plate. It’s either that or pitchers are just afraid to throw him anything in the zone. Either way, he’s getting on base at a really good clip.

So what can we expect from the Cleveland Indians highest paid player this season? All indications are, it’s going to be pretty good.

Projections

The Baseball Reference projections on Encarnacion are pretty steady from previous seasons. There’s no real expected regression, and it’s just going to be more of the same according to them.

2018 Projections: .258/.359/.516, 25 doubles, 35 homers, 99 RBIs, 79 walks, 120 Ks

The only real regression in these numbers is the walk totals. Encarnacion walked over 100 times last year and they don’t think he’ll reach 80 this year. Also, the projected 120 strikeouts would be the third highest total of his career. But he has has been punched out at least 130 times each of the past two years.

So overall, these projections are mostly in line with his recent production levels. Encarnacion has hit at least 34 homers each of the past six seasons, and he is expected to make it seven seasons in 2018.

Predictions

As far as my own predictions go, I like to think a little differently. There’s nothing really wrong with the projected numbers, but I think Encarnacion will be able to do better this season.

2018 Predictions: .265/.371/.521, 23 doubles, 37 homers, 104 RBIs, 96 walks, 130 Ks

The slow month of April for Encarnacion brought down his average, and even though that’s been his worst month for his entire career, he’ll get off to a better start than last year. That should bode well for his numbers on the season on the whole. The projections have him just shy of 100 RBIs on the season and that’s a number he’s reached in five of the past six seasons. And the one time he missed, he finished with 98 RBIs. And he only played in 128 games that season.

So he will reach the century mark for RBIs this year and he will continue his stretch of at least 34 homers in a season. He drew a career high amount of walks last season and I think he will draw a similar number this season as well.

The Cleveland Indians will enjoy having a guy like Encarnacion batting cleanup day in and day out. With guys like Francisco Lindor, Jason Kipnis, and Jose Ramirez hitting in front of him, there will be plenty of opportunities for RBIs. And now with Yonder Alonso expected to be hitting behind him, he should get plenty of chances to see pitches to hit.

Next: Yonder Alonso season preview

The Indians should see another good season out of Encarnacion. And if he’s able to be productive once again, it should end up being a pretty good season for the Tribe.