Edwin showing there's lots left in the tank

NEW YORK -- If there were questions about how much Edwin Encarnación has left at 36, the slugger has answered them well, even as the Mariners fight through a rough patch in their schedule.

Expectations remain high that Encarnacion will be traded at some point in the coming months by a rebuilding Mariners team, and he’s done nothing to hamper those possibilities while hitting 12 home runs with 26 RBIs and posting a healthy .544 slugging percentage in his first 35 games.

Encarnacion homered and plated a pair of runs in Seattle's 10-1 win on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-1, 230-pounder has four of the five hardest-hit home runs on a Mariners team that leads the Majors in long balls this year.

His laser 394-foot line-drive bolt in Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to the Yankees had the hardest exit velocity of any of the 166 homers he’s launched since Statcast began recording in 2015, a 113-mph shot off Masahiro Tanaka that gave him five home runs in his last 10 games.

Hard-hit balls are nothing new for a Mariners team that featured Nelson Cruz the previous four years, but Encarnacion has filled Cruz’s gap admirably. The Mariners have hit 23 home runs with an exit velocity of 113-plus mph since 2015. Of those, 19 were by Cruz, two by Mike Trumbo, one by Mike Zunino and, now, Encarnacion.

“Eddie does not get cheated,” manager Scott Servais said. “When Eddie swings, he swings really hard. He knows what he’s looking for. He may miss once in a while, he’ll swing and miss, but he just understands the strike zone so well and he has a pretty good idea when he walks to the plate what the pitcher is going to do to him.”

Encarnacion also owns a healthy .381 on-base percentage, second on the team behind Daniel Vogelbach.

“He takes his walks,” Servais said. “He knows the guy isn’t going to give into him or throw him a cookie with a 3-1 fastball. You have to be OK with that. That’s how you eventually hit as many home runs as he has. You’re disciplined at the plate.

“I love the way he goes about his at-bats. He has a plan. He doesn’t get the result he’s looking for every time, nobody does in this game. But he’s got a plan every time he steps up there.”

The Mariners’ own plan with Encarnacion has changed a bit. Initially expected to largely fill Cruz’s void at designated hitter, he’s wound up starting 24 of the club’s first 40 games at first base.

That’s allowed Vogelbach to fill the DH role, while Jay Bruce has played more outfield than expected, particularly with Mallex Smith temporarily in Triple-A Tacoma and Mitch Haniger sliding over to center field against most right-handed starters.

Servais said he needs to be careful not to wear down Encarnacion physically in the field, but he’s been impressed by the veteran’s ability with the glove. When Smith returns, Bruce will inherit more of the first-base duties, but for now it'll be Encarnacion's primary role.

“Edwin does a lot of good things at first base. He’s played a lot there, not in the last couple years, but early in his career,” Servais said. “He’s in the right spot, he has good awareness. His internal clock is good and you appreciate those things when you’ve got that guy on the field.

"He’s playing a lot there right now. I don’t know if it’ll stay at that rate throughout the season, but right now it’s what we need, and he understands that.”

Strickland on the mend

Veteran closer Hunter Strickland, sidelined the past five weeks with a strained right lat, has been cleared to begin throwing again on Monday.

Strickland traveled with the Mariners to New York this week to see Dr. Anthony Romeo, the specialist who has been treating him since the injury, and received positive news from his latest MRI.

Strickland will fly back to Seattle when the team travels to Boston this weekend, then start playing catch when the club gets home on Monday. That will be the first step in a long road back, but the 30-year-old knows he’s finally on the path toward a potential return in late June or so.

“I can’t wait,” Strickland said. “There’s never a good time to get injured, but you have to find the positives throughout and just move forward. But now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and that’s a good thing.”

Strickland is soaking up his time with the team in New York, having been assigned a locker in the clubhouse and appreciating the chance to feel a part of the club again, even if he can’t pitch.

“It’s been a while,” he said. “Too long, that’s for sure. This is definitely something I miss. I’m ready to get back.”

Worth noting

Right-handed reliever Gerson Bautista is reporting to high Class A Modesto to begin a rehab assignment. He's been out since spring with strained right pectoral muscle.

Right-handed reliever Sam Tuivailala , recovering from Achilles tendon surgery last August, has pitched twice so far for Modesto and allowed just a walk in two scoreless innings.