A middle infielder who bats leadoff usually is not the odds-on favorite to be a potent power hitter.

But peruse the Atlantic League home run leader board and the name “Ray Navarrete” is there at the top, ahead of Somerset corner outfielder Mike Lockwood.

As the Ducks second baseman and leadoff hitter, Navarrete is putting up slugging numbers at a rate that puts him in the company of the independent league’s best home run hitters. Through the season’s first 17 games, the former Pirates and Mets farmhand is making an early push to shatter his own personal best in home runs, posting a league-leading five homers entering Monday night.

“I’ll be honest, I enjoy any home run that goes over,” Navarrete said. “I’m not one of those guys when I hit it, I know right off the bat it is, but I will say most of them felt pretty good.”

Manager Dave LaPoint has penciled in Navarrete at the top of the lineup for nearly every game since the opening series against Camden. Since that move, the 6-0, 190-pound right-hand hitter started to do his best Rickey Henderson impersonation, forcing opposing pitchers to be cognizant of the lone-ball threat from the first pitch.

“He’s a good hitter, but I don’t want him to think he’s a power hitter,” LaPoint said. “He’s a good line-drive hitter in a good streak right now. We just need him to be consistent and keep that on-base percentage up.”

That power seemed unlikely in spring training. Navarrete, who played 52 games between the Mets’ Double and Triple-A teams in 2006, never hit more than 11 home runs in one professional season since signing as a non-drafted free agent with Pittsburgh in 2000.

“In my career, I’ve always been that annoying hitter where I have the ability to hit and I have some power—I’ve never hit 20-30 home runs in the past—but I’m a guy who hits a ton of doubles,” Navarrete said.

“I’ve had a lot of coaches in the past say ‘well, there’s going to be a year in a couple of years where those doubles will turn into home runs,’” he added. “Maybe this is the year, finally, when I’ve gotten a little stronger and some of those doubles will finally get over the fence.”

During the new campaign, LaPoint has moved major league veterans Edgardo Alfonzo and Carl Everett behind Navarrete in the lineup, and the 29-year-old responded by posting a team-best .607 slugging percentage to go along with 13 RBIs. Like Henderson, who played with Newark in 2003, Navarrete can hit for average—.286 entering today’s afternoon game against Camden—and power, though the Colts Neck, New Jersey native said he has not altered his approach.

“People are getting all excited about these home runs, but I don’t know if my next one will be tonight or two months from now,” Navarrete said. “One thing people forget is that I’m getting on base. I’m getting base and scoring runs, and at the end of the day, home runs are nice. But if I’m scoring runs, those guys are getting RBIs and we’re winning some baseball games.”

Navarrete has shown a unique style at the plate, although fashion is an off-the-field pursuit as well. While playing for the Pirates’ Double-A Altoona in 2004, he helped found his own clothing line called "DigMi." If sustains his fast start, he might be known for being more than a sophisticated dresser.

His five home runs are just one less than the entire Bridgeport Bluefish team combined. In 728 games entering the current campaign, Navarrete hit just 52 blasts, though LaPoint said it’s his leadoff man’s total game that has helped the Ducks stay three games behind Bridgeport in the North Division despite the rest of the offense struggling at times.

Standing in the clubhouse hallway before a game at Citibank Park last week, Everett walked up behind Navarrete and put his arm around his teammate, saying to the assembled reporters: “He should be with an affiliate.”

That was the case last season, when Navarrete used his first stint in the Atlantic League to show the Mets organization his potential. He batted .260 in 76 games with Somerset in 2005. Ducks general manager Mike Pfaff re-signed him during the winter to fortify a lineup heavy on middle of the order hitters like Alfonzo, Everett and Pete Rose Jr.

Navarrete’s acquisition gave the organization a quality bat at the top of the lineup, providing LaPoint with the ability to fill out his lineup with the benefit of an offensive catalyst at the top.

“I think the book on Ray is that he could always hit. They didn’t know where they would put him defensively,” LaPoint said. “This year in winter ball, he really worked hard at a position. I see the progression. I think his position will be a utility player if he goes to Triple-A or the major leagues.

“The plan is to move him around a little bit more, but we’ve had the little aches and pains, [so] we’ve had to keep him at second base.”

Navarrete’s signing benefitted the Ducks thus far, and that could lead to a new contract with a MLB-affiliated minor league team in the near future if Navarrete continues to flourish.

With Everett and Damian Rolls out with minor injuries last week, there is a chance LaPoint could eventually shift him to the outfield to get more time at different positions, though he seems to be entrenched as the second baseman for the immediate future.

Navarrete said he is looking to just enjoy as much playing time as possible. He got his first taste of playing at Citibank Park last season, recording a .420 slugging percentage for the Ducks after signing with them on July 28, 2006. That move came after the Mets let him walk, though with the Ducks reputation for sending players back to the big leagues, there is a chance another club might give him a new opportunity to realize his dream of playing in a MLB game.

“I believe in my heart that if I get the opportunity to play every day, I can play just as good as anybody else,” he said. “Not a day goes by in my heart that I don’t say that I was good enough to get there.

“Sometimes you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time when you’re not as high a priority as somebody else. I’m getting older, which makes it more difficult to get to the big leagues. But a lot of guys have gotten there in their 30’s. I’m going to play for as long as I can.”

Notes: The Ducks will play the expansion York Revolution in a matinee this afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Camden’s Campbell Field. York’s home ballpark is still be completed. LaPoint’s probable starter is John Halama (1-0, 3.18 ERA). He will oppose York’s Ryan Baerlocher (1-1, 2.45 ERA).