White Sox turn to Encarnacion to plug gaping hole at designated hitter

The Yankees were sitting a half-game out of first place last June 15 during a game against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

In the early innings, there was a buzz coming from the still sizable New York media contingent holed up on the far side of the press box.

Word leaked the Yankees were getting Edwin Encarnacion in a trade from the Mariners, a sure sign they were serious about making the playoffs.

Good teams are stacked with quality players, and New York - which wound up winning the AL East - has long fit that profile.

The White Sox have been on the opposite end of the spectrum, as evidenced by seven straight losing seasons and no postseason appearances since 2008.

Coming out of a three-year rebuild, the Sox have been looking to reverse course and adding productive veterans left and right this off-season, and they officially signed Encarnacion to a one-year, $12-million contract on Thursday.

The deal includes a $12 million option for 2021, with no buyout.

"Edwin can speak for himself in terms of his desire to be here," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said on a conference call. "But obviously, his willingness to come on a one-plus-one (contract), I think, speaks to the attractiveness of what we're building here and guys wanting to be a part of it."

Encarnacion has been on playoff teams for five straight years. The 37-year-old designated hitter is feeling pretty good about extending the streak to six this season.

"It's a young and talented team that they have," Encarnacion said. "I'm very excited to be part of this team and I think this team has a great future. Try to help this team accomplish our goals and make the playoffs."

White Sox designated hitters used to be a smash.

Harold Baines filled the role over parts of three decades before giving way to Frank Thomas. The DH baton was later passed to Jim Thome, who was with the Sox from 2006-08.

Baines, Thomas and Thome are all in the Hall of Fame, but the White Sox failed to keep the line moving.

Adam Dunn, Adam LaRoche, Cody Asche (!), Matt Davidson and Yonder Alonso all flopped as designated hitters, and Jose Abreu balked at filling the role the past six seasons, preferring to stay put at first base.

Last year, Sox designated hitters ranked last in the American League with a .285 on-base percentage and .648 OPS and second-to-last with a .208 batting average and 17 home runs.

Encarnacion, who celebrated his 37th birthday Tuesday, is a proven DH and he combined to hit .269/.352/.577 with 16 homers and 45 RBI in the role with the Mariners and Yankees last season.

Also capable of playing first base, the right-hander slashed .244/.344/.531 with 34 homers and 86 RBI in 109 games total games with Seattle and New York in 2019.

Encarnacion played only 10 regular season games in August and September due to a broken wrist and oblique injury. He did rejoin the Yankees in the playoffs and was 5-for-31 with 2 RBI. New York declined to pick up Encarnacion's $20 million option for this season.

"We made no secret about the fact that while we had certain positions, such as right field and DH, that we needed to improve our offensive production on, we also needed to improve, as a whole, our ability to get on base and our power," Hahn said. "And between Yasmani (Grandal) and (Nomar) Mazara and Edwin, we feel like we're going to take a step forward in that regard, not to mention once Luis Robert gets here as well. It's an area of need entering this off-season and one that we feel we've managed to address here over the last few months."

Over a 15-year career with New York, Seattle, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toronto, Encarnacion hit .263/.352/.499 with 414 home runs and 1,242 RBI.

Since 2012, Encarnacion leads the major leagues with 297 homers and 850 RBI.

"Keep working," Encarnacion said. "Keep working the way I've been doing. I try to work hard every day, especially in the off-season. Continue to do my program and take care of my body. That's more of the thing, take care of myself and keep working hard every day and continue to do what I've been doing the last couple of years."