Eduardo Escobar

Eduardo José Escobar (born January 5, 1989) is a Venezuelan professional baseball third baseman and shortstop for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins.

Eduardo Escobar
Escobar with the Minnesota Twins
Arizona Diamondbacks – No. 5
Third baseman/ Shortstop
Born: (1989-01-05) January 5, 1989
Villa de Cura, Venezuela
Bats: Switch Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 2, 2011, for the Chicago White Sox
MLB statistics
(through 2020 season)
Batting average.257
Home runs110
Runs batted in446
Teams

Professional career

Chicago White Sox

Escobar was a September call-up in 2011 playing in nine games and had two hits in seven at-bats. In 2012, Escobar made the 25-man roster out of spring training as a utility infielder. In his first 97 plate appearances of 2012, Escobar had a .207 batting average with 3 RBI.

Minnesota Twins

On July 28, 2012, Escobar was traded to the Minnesota Twins with Pedro Hernández for Francisco Liriano.[1] In 49 more plate appearances, Escobar batted .227 with 6 RBI. Overall in 2012, Escobar had 146 total plate appearances with a .214 average and 9 RBI.

On April 3, 2013, Escobar hit a walk-off 2-run double off of Phil Coke that lifted the Twins past the Detroit Tigers, 3-2, to its first win of the 2013 season.[2] On April 9, 2013, Escobar hit his first career home run in the top of the 5th inning off of Jeremy Guthrie of the Kansas City Royals. Playing 66 games in 2013, Escobar batted .236 with 3 home runs, and 10 RBI.

In 2014, Escobar had his best season yet with a .275 batting average, along with hitting 6 home runs and 37 RBI in 133 games.

In 2015, Escobar played 127 games batting .262 with 12 home runs and 58 RBI.

In 2016, Escobar played 105 games batting .236 with 6 home runs and 37 RBI.

On May 7, 2016, Escobar was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to a left groin strain. He avoided salary arbitration with the Twins on December 3, 2016, by agreeing to a one-year, $2.6 million contract for the 2017 season.[3]

Escobar had a career year in 2017 hitting .254 and setting career highs with 21 home runs and 73 RBIs.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On July 27, 2018, Escobar was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor leaguers Gabriel Maciel, Jhoan Durán, and Ernie De La Trinidad.[4] He had the highest fielding percentage among major league third basemen, at .983.[5]

On October 23, 2018 the Diamondbacks signed Escobar to a three-year contract worth a reported $21 million.[6] In the 2019 season he hit 35 home runs and 118 runs batted in, batting .269/.320/.511. He also led the majors with 10 triples. In 2020, Escobar struggled offensively throughout the shortened MLB season, hitting just .212 with 4 home runs and 20 RBI.

Personal life

Escobar owns a home in Miami and resides there in the offseason with his wife and five children.[7]

See also

References
  1. "White Sox acquire Francisco Liriano from Twins". Chicago.whitesox.mlb.com. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  2. "Tigers vs. Twins - 04/03/13". MLB.com. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  3. Adams, Steve; Todd, Jeff (December 3, 2016). "Players Avoiding Arbitration: Friday". Mlbtraderumors.com. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  4. Kelly, Matt. "D-backs acquire doubles machine Escobar". Mlb.com. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  5. Major League Leaderboards » 2018 » Third Basemen » Fielding Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball
  6. "Escobar agrees to 3-year deal to stay in Arizona". Espn.com. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  7. "Twins' Eduardo Escobar pursues his American dream". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2017-09-03.
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