Edwin: 'I’m prepared to give 100 percent'

For some players, the pause between Spring Training and Summer Camp presented an opportunity to heal from lingering injuries. That’s the case with Edwin Encarnación, signed by the White Sox to be their primary designated hitter and occasional first baseman for the 2020 season.

Encarnación sat out several Cactus League games earlier this year due to pain in his lower back, and just before camps were shut down on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he experienced discomfort in his right hip. But now, he says, his workouts are full speed ahead, with no physical limitations.

“The pause was good for me, because I got ready and recovered from the injury in my lower back,” Encarnación said on a Zoom call this week. “I feel 100 percent [ready] to compete, and I thank God for that.”

Encarnación, 37, who came to the White Sox on a one-year, $12 million deal with a club option for 2021, will join a lineup that also features Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, Eloy Jiménez, Yoán Moncada and rookie Luis Robert. Encarnación is particularly impressed with the young bats in camp.

“We’ve got tremendous talent with the young guys, like Eloy and Robert,” he said. “I think we’re really going to enjoy this year, seeing that talent here with those young guys. It’s going to be tremendous for the Chicago White Sox.”

Of course, the club also is counting on Encarnación’s production, as he is coming off a season in which he hit 34 home runs and had an OPS+ of 132 in 109 games between the Mariners and Yankees. Encarnación has been one of the game’s most consistent power hitters over the last decade, with eight straight seasons of 30 or more homers. Over that stretch he’s averaged 37 roundtrippers per year and has an OPS+ of 138.

Now he is preparing for a much shorter season. This week he took his first live batting practice of Summer Camp, and on Thursday homered off Aaron Bummer in an intrasquad game, bringing back his famous “parrot” celebration as he rounded the bases.

“I’ve felt pretty good, thank God, seeing pitchers,” said Encarnación, who stayed at his home in the Dominican Republic during the pause before reporting to camp at Guaranteed Rate Field. “It’s just a question of seeing more pitches. This is all going to be a day-to-day process, continuing to work to keep trying to get to 100 percent.

“You’re preparing for a 60-game season. It’s not like previous seasons when you’d prepare for a six-month season, 162 games. Mentally, I’m prepared to give 100 percent and ask God to give me health for these two months and do what I know how to do.”

Manager Rick Rentería has been pleased with Encarnación’s physical condition so far.

“Very, very good,” Rentería said. “He’s one of the players we’ve had conversations with, and he feels very good. In talking to him, he says he’s over everything that he had going on in the spring. He was able to remain active in his home and work.

“It’s unfortunate that we got delayed in our start and we’re still working toward that, but he seems to be extremely happy that the weather is warm now. But he’s in good shape.”