PEORIA, Ariz. -- In the middle of a Mariners camp filled with youngsters brimming with untapped potential and dreams, veteran Edwin Encarnacion doesn’t quite seem to fit. But once the games begin, his experience and professional bat will fit quite well in the middle of manager Scott Servais’ batting order.

Encarnacion has been one of the most prodigious sluggers in baseball in recent years. He’s been an All-Star in three of the previous six seasons, finished in the Top 20 in the American League MVP Award voting five of the previous seven years and he hit more homers and drove in more runs than anybody -- including former Mariners designated hitter Nelson Cruz -- in that span.

Though his average slipped to .246 last year, Encarnacion still slugged 32 home runs and drove in 107 runs, his fourth straight season of 30-plus homers and 100-plus RBIs. Nolan Arenado and Anthony Rizzo are the only other Major Leaguers with 100-plus RBIs in each of the previous four seasons.

But at age 36 and carrying a $20 million contract, Encarnacion is only with the Mariners because he was part of a series of trades that general manager Jerry Dipoto made to eliminate long-term contracts for other players. 

Encarnacion’s deal will be done after this season, and his time with the rebuilding Mariners figures to be short, though Dipoto hasn’t found a trade partner, and it appears increasingly likely that Encarnacion will begin the season with Seattle.

Encarnacion shrugs off the trade talk, however. He’s all about business, and his business is getting ready to hit, no matter where he’s stationed.

“I don’t worry about that,” Encarnacion said before heading to the batting cages on Wednesday. “The only thing I worry about is what I can control. I can control playing this game. That’s it. I don’t worry about anything else.”

The 6-foot-1, 230-pounder has been part of rebuilding plans before. He said the Mariners’ vision seems similar to what he was part of in Toronto, where the Blue Jays finally made the postseason in the final two years of his eight-year run.

“It takes patience,” he said. “Patience and doing the right things, keep working the way we’ve been working, then just go out there and have fun.”

Encarnacion joins the Mariners after several of his friends and countrymen from the Dominican Republic have departed, with Robinson Cano and Jean Segura traded and Cruz let go in free agency. Sure, Encarnacion would have loved to play with that group, but he knows the score.

“This game is a business,” he said. “We don’t control that. Whatever they do, we’re ready for it and we’re here.”

Encarnacion will fill Cruz’s DH role for the most part and he will also play some first base, where Encarnacion started 22 games last year for the Indians. Bottom line, the Mariners want his bat in the lineup both for their own sake and to promote his trade value, should another team need a veteran right-handed bat at some point.

“He’s a veteran player that knows who he is, knows his routine,” Servais said. “That’s a valuable guy to have around. Certainly he produces. He’s going to play. Those guys in the middle are going to have opportunities to drive in runs and put together good years.”

Encarnacion acknowledged he’s still in the process of getting to know people in camp and he is working to get his timing down at the plate. But in his 15th Major League season, he’s confident of one thing.

“I don’t know how they’ll use me," he said, "but I’ll be ready."