CLEVELAND -- The way home runs are rocketing off Tribe center fielder Grady Sizemore's bat lately might have people thinking manager Eric Wedge should move Sizemore into the No. 3 or No. 4 hole in the batting order.

But Wedge isn't moving Sizemore anywhere.

"He's one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball," Wedge said. "He enjoys doing it. He brings live energy to what we do, and there's no reason to take one of our greatest areas of strength and put it somewhere else.

"That's where he belongs."

For years now, Sizemore has been looked at as a No. 3 hitter in waiting, and the way he's been pounding home runs the past two or three weeks, the Indians' lack of production in the No. 3 and cleanup spots might be the reason the talk of moving him there had increased.

"Nobody talked about it last year when we moved him there for a couple or three weeks and it didn't work," Wedge said. "I didn't hear a word about it after we moved him back. You can't have it both ways."

Still, Wedge can't ignore the fact that Sizemore has shown the kind of power that often isn't found at the top of the batting order. It's almost as if he's stoked up the power to compensate for the absence of power in the lineup with Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner both on the disabled list.

That's not the case, Sizemore said.

"I'm not trying to hit homers," he said. "They're just coming."

The only reason he can point to for the surge in power is that he's swinging the bat well. He's had some very good swings in recent games, and he's driving the ball. The result has been eight homers in his last 15 games entering Sunday, which pushed his season's total to 16.

With 24 homers all of last season, Sizemore seems assured of topping that total and maybe breaking his personal high of 28 in 2006.

He hasn't, however, made bettering those totals a mission of his, because power hitting isn't his style, regardless of what the home run numbers say.

While he hasn't taken on the burden of the team's resident slugger, he has taken on more of a leadership role -- and not the quiet, lead-by-example kind of leadership that people often refer to with a focused, soft-spoken player like Sizemore.

But just as Sizemore's power numbers haven't gone unnoticed, neither has his leadership.

"He's been a lot more vocal -- whether it be in the clubhouse, on the bench, during the game," Wedge said. "With the presence he has and the credibility, what he's all about as a man and as a Major League Baseball player, there's great presence with that."

The presence is most visible on the field -- and in his homers these days. He's unwilling to make a big fuss over it all. He's Grady just being Grady -- which about all that Wedge can ask of him. That's all Sizemore can ask of himself.

"You try not to put too much pressure on yourself, especially when you lose guys due to injury," Sizemore said. "But I think everybody in this locker room takes it upon themselves to try and step up in certain situations to fill the gap and do what you can."

No Indians player has filled that gap any better this season than Sizemore.