Breaking Out

In September 1997, four games into his major league career, Tigers outfielder Juan Encarnacion had his right hand broken by a pitch from the Angels' Allen Watson and played in only seven more games that season. During spring training last year, Encarnacion's bid to make the Detroit roster was ended by another broken bone, this one shattered by a ball fouled off his left foot. So when Encarnacion, 23, reported to camp this spring, his teammates were waiting. "They told me to drink more milk because my bones were weak," says Encarnacion, who returns to his native Dominican Republic in the off-season. "I told them not to worry because I bought a cow in the Dominican."

He was joking, but the Tigers would tie a Guernsey to the clubhouse buffet table if they thought it would help him. Encarnacion's surname is Spanish for incarnation, and any scout will tell you that the name fits: He's the embodiment of a five-tool ballplayer. Detroit hitting coach Alan Trammell calls the 6'3", 187-pound Encarnacion, who returned to hit .329 with seven homers in 40 games with the Tigers last year, the most talented player he has seen in his 20 years with Detroit.

In his first season as the Tigers' regular left-fielder, Encarnacion, who before every pitch holds his bat aloft like a samurai sword, was hitting .279 with seven homers, 30 RBIs and 18 steals through Sunday. But he also had been caught stealing 10 times and had tantalized Detroit fans and brass with play that was alternately block-headed and brilliant.

To wit: In the eighth inning of a 7-4 loss in Cleveland on May 23, Encarnacion dropped two consecutive fly balls with runners on base. Five days earlier, in Toronto, he ran through third base coach Lance Parrish's stop sign and was tagged out at the plate, killing a two-out rally. Yet the next day, with the Blue Jays and Tigers tied in the seventh, Encarnacion hammered a three-run homer off lefthander David Wells, who had struck him out twice in the game. Detroit went on to win 7-3. "Anytime you bring a young player up, you're going to see some growing pains," says manager Larry Parrish. "You just hope he can learn from them."

Encarnacion has been on the Tigers' accelerated learning program since he was signed at age 16. A pitcher for most of his youth, he had been playing the outfield and batting regularly for only a month when Detroit scout Ramon Pe�a signed him after seeing him play in a Dominican tournament. Two months later Encarnacion was with the Tigers' affiliate in a Dominican summer league; he hit .251 with 13 homers in 72 games. "I loved his bat speed and the way the ball jumped off his bat," says Pe�a.

The Tigers look forward to having Encarnacion's bat—and foot—speed in Comerica Park, their new stadium that opens in 2000. Parrish says one reason Encarnacion, a rightfielder in the minors, was moved to left was that Detroit needed a speedster to cover Comerica's spacious leftfield. It's up to Encarnacion to prove that he deserves to patrol those grounds every day. "When I became a professional, I felt like I was just starting to play baseball," says Encarnacion, who when he signed was playing only twice a week on sandlots. "The more I play, the more easily it will come for me."