Eduardo Escobar

Eduardo Jose Escobar

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 165 lb.

• Debut September 2, 2011

• Born January 5, 1989 in Villa de Cura, Aragua Venezuela

BR page

Biographical Information

Shortstop Eduardo Escobar was signed by scout Amador Arias for the Chicago White Sox in 2006. He spent that year playing for the VSL Orioles/White Sox and 2007 with the DSL White Sox 2. He came to the U.S. the following year. In 2010, he was named a Carolina League All-Star after hitting .285 during part of the season with the Winston-Salem Dash. After hitting .266 for the AAA Charlotte Knights in 2011, he earned a late-season call-up with the White Sox. In limited action with Chicago, he went 2-for-7 over 9 games.

In 2012, Eduardo earned a spot with the Sox in spring training as a back-up infielder and played 35 games for them, hitting .195 in 82 at-bats, spending most of his time at 3B. On July 28th, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins along with P Pedro Hernandez in return for P Francisco Liriano.

On July 27, 2018, he was traded by the Twins to the Arizona Diamondbacks for three prospects still playing at the Class-A level, Gabriel Maciel, Jhoan Duran and Ernie De La Trinidad. He was hitting .274 with 15 homers and 63 RBIs in 97 games for the Twins, then added 8 homers and 21 RBIs in 45 games for the Twins for a combined line of .272 with 48 doubles, 23 homers, 75 runs and 83 RBIs in 151 games, good for an OPS+ of 120. His outstanding season went under the radar, however, as it was split between teams in two different two leagues. In 2019, he was the regular third baseman for the D-Backs from the start of the season and continued where he had left off the previous year. On June 10th, he contributed to a record-setting day by his team, when they set a new team record with 8 homers, and combined with the Philadelphia Phillies for another record of 13 long balls in one game. He went 4-for-5 and homered twice, once from each side of the plate, in consecutive innings as Arizona won, 13-8. He finished the year at .269 with 35 homers and 118 RBIs, leading the National League with 10 triples, his first time finishing atop the leader board in any category. His OPS+ was 110.

Eduardo fell back in 2020 in a disappointing season limited to 54 games (out of the 60 played by his team) due to the Coronavirus pandemic. He hit .212 with 4 homers and 20 RBIs for an OPS+ of 62, the lowest for him since his first two seasons. There were some questions heading into 2021 as a result, since at age 32, the drop in production could well have been a result of permanent decline and not simply a bad season. He answered these doubts with a great first half that got him named to the All-Star team for the first time as Arizona's sole representative. In 98 games with the D-Backs, he hit .246 but with 22 homers and 65 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 107. The Diamondbacks were having a dreadful season though, and it was almost certain that they would try to trade him in order to add some young players, which they did on July 28th when he was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers in return for two minor leaguers, Alberto Ciprian and Cooper Hummel. He was going from a last-place team to a first-place one, and one that had benefited from outstanding pitching all season, but was already making its third trade to upgrade a shaky offense, after those for Willie Adames and Rowdy Tellez. With Milwaukee, he got to complete filling up the whole diamond as he was used as a first baseman for the first times as a major leaguer; he had already appeared at every other position, including pitcher and DH, in previous seasons. He batted .268 in 48 games for Milwaukee to finish the year at .253 in 146 games, with 26 doubles, 28 homers and 90 RBIs; his OPS+ was 109. He then went 3 for 10 with a double as the Brewers lost to the Atlanta Braves in the Division Series.

On December 1, 2021, just before the start of the 2021-2022 lockout, he signed as a free agent with the New York Mets. He claimed the starting third base job for the team in 2022. On June 6th, he became the first member of the team in a decade to hit for the cycle, doing so in an 11-5 win over the San Diego Padres. Scott Hairston had been the last Mets player to accomplish the feat, back in 2012, and he was the first for any team to hit for the cycle at Petco Park. He left the hardest hit for last, hitting a triple in the 9th inning to complete his day's work, finishing with 6 RBIs. He was the National League Player of the Month for September when he hit .340 with 8 homers and slugged .650 in 26 games. He finished the season at .240 in 136 games with 20 homers, 69 RBIs and an OPS+ of 106. He went 3 for 9 with a double and a homer as the Mets were upset by the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card Series.

In 2023, he lost playing time with the Mets as young Brett Baty took over as the Mets' regular third baseman. On July 23, he was hitting .236 with 4 homers and 16 RBIs in 40 games, with just 110 at-bats, when he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels in return for two minor league pitchers, Landon Marceaux and Coleman Crow. He was joining a team desperate for infielders, as Gio Urshela had just been the victim of a season-ending injury and Anthony Rendon and Zach Neto were both on the injured list at the time of the trade.

Notable Achievements

• NL All-Star (2021)
• NL Triples Leader (2019)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 5 (2017-2019, 2021 & 2022)
• 30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2019)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 1 (2019)

Further Reading

• Rhett Bollinger: "Angels acquire Eduardo Escobar in deal with Mets: Halos part with Minor League RHPs, Top 30 prospects Landon Marceaux, Coleman Crow", mlb.com, June 24, 2023. [1]
• Anthony DiComo: "Escobar first Met to hit for cycle in 10 years", mlb.com, June 7, 2022. [2]

Related Sites

• Eduardo Escobar on mlb.com