During the 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC), Fernando Rodney (7 saves in 8 games, 7.1 IP, 1 hit and 8 K's) carried around a plantain for good luck calling it "Plantain Power". I don't think luck had anything to do with the Dominican Republic team steamrolling the competition to an undefeated 8-0 record for the championship.
The plantain, a brother to the banana, is a great tropical fruit and a staple of the Dominican and Latin cuisine.
Two members of that 2013 WBC team, Nelson Cruz of the Baltimore Orioles and Edwin Encarnacion of the Toronto Blue Jays are in a power surge with a barrage of long balls rarely seen.
Thirty three year old Nelson Cruz is leading MLB in HR (20), RBI's (52) and slugging (.672). Coming off a 50 game PED suspension in 2013, the OF/DH became a free agent hoping to land a multi-year contract but finding no takers signed a 1year 8 million deal with Baltimore. Earlier in his career Cruz provided value with his good speed, average defense and power bat:
avg/obp/slg WAR
2009 .260/.332/.524 3.0
2010 .318/.374/.516 4.9
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| Nelson Cruz vs Indians at Orioles Park May 2014 (getty images.com) |
In 2011, 2012 and 2013 Cruz had WAR's of 1.3, 1.1 and 1.3 getting a reputation as an aging OF losing speed, defense and some power. This year's line of .314/.384/.672 and 2.3 WAR with 7 HR's in April and 13 in May has put him back on the map as a good value player. This is the same guy that has hit 33, 22, 29, 24 and 27 HR's the last five years. In the 2011 post season against the Detroit Tigers, Cruz hit 6 HR's with 13 RBI's in 6 games. I think we can say the "boomstick" is alive and well in Baltimore.
Thirty one year old Edwin Encarnacion just tied an AL HR record for May with 16 sharing it with the legendary Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees who won the triple crown in 1956. Encarnacion finished May with 130 plate appearances, 32 hits, 33 RBI's, 16 walks and 16 K's to go along with the long
balls. He also chipped in with 5 multi homer games tying him with HOFer Harmon Killebrew and Albert Belle. Encarnacion is second in the AL in HR's (19), RBI's (50) and slugging (.615) only behind Nelson Cruz.
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| Edwin Encarnacion homering vs KC Royals at Rogers Centre (zimbio.com) |
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| Mickey Mantle in 1956 (mickeymantle.com) |
Encarnacion is another Latin late bloomer as his early years in Toronto were not indicative of things to come:
avg/obp/slg WAR
2010 .244/.305/.482 1.6
2011 .272/.334/.453 1.1
Since 2012 his power has exploded:
avg/obp/slg WAR HR
2012 .280/.384/.557 4.1 42
2013 .272/.370/.534 4.1 36
2014 .271/.359/.615 2.4 19
Encarnacion is leading the Blue Jays to first place in the tough AL East (34-24 record)despite last place predictions by "experts". Edwin has a team friendly contract (3 yrs/29 M) for 2013-2015 plus a team option (10.0 M) for 2016. He plays at the launchpad at Rogers Centre where he's hit 12 of his 19 bombs. In this era of high strikeout totals he's one of the few sluggers under 100 K's/season:
BB K
2012 84 94
2013 82 62
2014 29 41
Stats courtesy of Fangraphs and Baseball Reference.
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