Blue Jays’ unlikely star Edwin Encarnacion ties Joe Carter

Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion tied Joe Carter for the 4th-most home runs in team history on Monday

With his 203rd home run on Monday night in San Francisco, Edwin Encarnacion tied Joe Carter on the Blue Jays’ all-time home run list and moved within 20 of

Vernon Wells

for third place.

Originally thrown in to a trade between the Blue Jays and Cincinnati Red in 2009 for Scott Rolen, though, these heights were never expected from Encarnacion.

Encarnacion was earning 2.45 million that season and due for another raise in arbitration. He was coming off a season of 26 home runs in Cincinnati, but with a 1.6 WAR that season, his current (at that time) and future value didn’t hold too great of an impact.

“He was really kind of a late bloomer and it all came together for him,” manager John Gibbons told Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com, “like [Jose] Bautista and [Josh] Donaldson. They’re special players. Eddie doesn’t talk a whole lot, just goes about and does his job. Well deserved.”

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Even his Toronto days took some time to launch, though, and Encarnacion was almost lost for good. After hitting 21 home runs with a .787 OPS in 2010, Encarnacion was selected off waivers by the Oakland Athletics. Three weeks later he was granted free agency, and re-signed with the Blue Jays by mid-December. Bullet: dodged.

The 2011 season was similar to his 2010, but from 2012 on, Encarnacion has been one of the most feared power hitters in the league. Very quietly, he’s also been one of the league’s most consistent. The Dominican has posted 34+ home runs with a .900+ OPS in each of the last four seasons, and despite some nagging injuries along the way, he’s averaged ~140 games per year.

Due for a big month of May, Encarnacion’s current numbers are rather low with a slash line of .254 / .315 / .454 (.769 OPS). He still owns just a 0.2 WAR on the season, but with free agency waiting in the winter ahead, motivation won’t be an issue.

With 578 runs batted in with the Blue Jays, Encarnacion is within striking distance of Tony Fernandez (613) for seventh and Lloyd Moseby (651) for sixth.