The trees - and baseball - also helped make the Encarnacion home a gathering place. Encarnacion and his friends sold the abundant fruit by the river and used the money for groceries, school supplies or gifts. In La Romana, where people either survived or thrived off the major sugar cane company, the Encarnacion home revolved around the sweetness of mangoes.Įight mango trees surrounded their small lot and supplied much more than food and shade. “I never thought I was going to get one of those big houses in the hills,” Encarnacion recalls.
All Encarnacion had to do was gaze across the river’s tranquil waters to the lush, green hillside dotted with lavish homes. While almost impossible to envision from his poor Rio Salado barrio, the grand life he currently enjoys was never difficult to see. “I didn’t want to go back to the minors but … ayyyyy!” Encarnacion exclaims midsentence as Colombia’s Jorge Alfaro circles the bases with a tying home run.Įncarnacion grew up in the coastal city of La Romana, where the Chavon River splits the town like an old American railroad into the haves and have-nots. He’s telling a story about a much different career point, a time when he was struggling to stay in the big leagues. 333 with 7 home runs in the last WBC, the Dominicans hold just a one-run lead late in the final game of pool play.Įncarnacion leans forward at a small clubhouse table as Colombia comes to bat in the eighth inning. On the screen, the scrappy Colombia team is giving Santana and company a first-round battle.
EDWIN ENCARNACION SERIES
His contract is the largest in team history and adds one of the league’s best power hitters to a roster that expects to compete for a World Series title again in 2017 - and beyond. Still, the 34-year-old remains transfixed on his original family.Įvery bit of Encarnacion’s journey to become an elite major league hitter and his three-year, $65 million contract with the Indians comes from those who raised him in the Caribbean - those represented by “DOMINICANA” across their jerseys.įor the defending American League champions, Encarnacion represents a shift that registers like one of his mammoth home runs. In his first season here, Encarnacion passed on representing the reigning WBC champions to fully integrate into his new family in Arizona. His new Tribe teammate and fellow Dominican countryman Carlos Santana is onscreen playing in the World Baseball Classic, the international tournament that brings together the game’s best players.
EDWIN ENCARNACION FREE
The prized free agent slugger often appears unfazed, walking the facility’s fields and halls with his glove atop his head in place of his navy-and-red, block-C cap.Īs he idly removes his mitt from his head while dropping equipment at his corner locker, another team wearing red and blue holds his attention on the clubhouse television. A light afternoon lies ahead, befitting his veteran star status. Instead, Encarncion is coming off the Indians’ sun-splashed Goodyear, Arizona, fields after an extended morning of conditioning and baseball workouts. Most of the team is heading the opposite way, exiting toward an awaiting bus that will depart for today’s spring training game against the San Diego Padres.
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