Blue Jays' Edwin Encarnacion: Hitting better when playing defense

Heading into Wednesday's game, Encarnacion had slashed .287/.359/.616 with 15 homers and 45 RBI in 42 games while playing first base. As the designated hitter, Encarnacion hit .260/.358/.527 with 19 homers and 55 RBI in 77 games.

Analysis:

That's a significant swing from last season, when as the DH, he slashed .301/.397/.595 with 24 homers and 75 RBI in 85 games, compared to .239/.329/.486 with 14 homers and 34 RBI in 59 games at first. A possible explanation for this would be that the veteran performs better when his mind is distracted between at-bats. As the DH, Encarnacion uses the time between at-bats to study video and may simply be overthinking his swing rather than just letting his natural talents do the work. Either way, benching him is never an option for fantasy owners, but this interesting stat line could be useful for those strictly playing in daily fantasy leagues.