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Aaron Hill, slugger.

Who knew?

John Farrell, the new boss man of the Blue Jays, appreciates the home run as much as the next manager and noting that Hill has popped 62 homers the past two years, plans to drop the second baseman into a power slot in the lineup when facing right-handers, the five or six spot. Against lefties, Hill would remain in his customary No. 2 slot.

With Vernon Wells a fading memory after being shipped to the Los Angeles Angels, and catcher John Buck and his 20 homers signed with the Florida Marlins, there’s a bit of a power vacuum in the Jays’ 2011 lineup.

Sure, Jose Bautista figures to bat third or fourth but when you look at it, he’s kind of out there, naked almost, unless he gets some consistent support from the likes of Adam Lind and Hill.

Now in his seventh season with the Jays, Hill had a tremendous breakout season in 2009 when out of nowhere he did a mini Bautista by drilling 36 home runs, more than double his previous high (17).

Last season, in a mostly forgotten season when his average plummeted to an embarrassing .205, Hill still managed to drill 26 homers and 68 runs.

So, Farrell, who wants very much to broaden the Jays offensive approach, will still take the home runs when they come and is looking at Hill to be one of his main suppliers.

In baseball, you take ’em where you can find ’em.

“He’s got power,” Farrell said of Hill prior to Wednesday’s game against the Tampa Rays. “The last two years he’s hit 56 or 58 home runs (actually it’s 62, but who’s counting). To me, that’s a power hitter.

“We’re fortunate to have that kind of power bat to be able to play that position. It gives us some flexibility to look at some different alignments where you’re not so pinned into some of the traditional power slots such as first and third and the corner outfielders.

“The fact that he can swing the bat with authority and have extra-base ability gives us that flexibility to look at those type of things if we want to make a little bit more of a defensive move with some other positions. The fact that he can hit in the middle of the order gives us a lot of flexibility.”

Flexibility such as having Canuck Brett Lawrie, who is having a tremendous camp, open at third? On that, we’ll have to see.

Hill, meanwhile, has yet to appear in a regular scheduled spring training game. Due to an injured right quad, he has been limited to a ‘B’ game and hit in simulated games on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dunedin.

“Later on in the week is our goal,” Farrell said of when Hill is expected to finally make an appearance. “He’s champing at the bit, he feels better but at the same time it’s being prescribed to him to just continue at the pace that we are and we’ll look to be a bit more active later in the week.”