Eduardo Escobar Is Back To His Old Approach, Back To The Bench
Entry posted by Tom Froemming ·
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Heading into this season, it appeared Eduardo Escobar had cemented himself as the Twins' starting shortstop. He'd put together two-straight above average offensive seasons and ended his 2015 season with a big exclamation point. With a poor showing thus far in 2016, however, Escobar's place on the team is now very much in question.
Escobar performed admirably in 2014, taking over for Pedro Florimon and fending off rookie Danny Santana for playing time. He hit .275/.315/.406 and ranked 10th in the AL with 35 doubles. Still, he seemed like more of a band aid at the position than an attractive long-term option.
Santana re-entered the picture to start 2015, but once he faltered there was steady Eduardo to step in. At the time, it was disappointing to see the talented young Santana fail to take advantage of an opportunity and Escobar again just seemed to be a stop gap. The team was in contention and he was the best option.
His performance over the last two months of the season changed that perception. Escobar hit .287 with eight homers, 27 RBI and 31 runs over his final 56 games played. Extrapolated over a 162 game period, that equates to 23 home runs, 78 RBI and 90 runs. He went from stop gap to the solution. Unfortunately, that performance appears to have been a mirage.
A big element to Escobar's game that fueled his hot finish to 2015 was an improved approach at the plate. He has been unable to carry that over to 2016.
That second half spike from last season appears to simply be a huge outlier at this point. Escobar has an ugly triple slash of .259/.283/.380 on the season and to top it off advanced defensive metrics suggest his glove work has declined, as well.
The trade of Eduardo Nunez appeared to have opened the door back up for Escobar to take over at short, but instead Jorge Polanco has started six of the past nine games. The organization has always seemed hesitant to commit to Escobar, but now his performance has justified that stance.
With an additional two seasons of team control which should come at modest prices, Escobar entered the year in a perfect position to slap a long-term stranglehold on the starting shortstop gig. No one could've seen the emergence of Nunez coming, but Escobar has also played himself out of the picture.
With his ability to switch hit and play multiple positions, he's got an attractive skill set for a utility player, but with how far his performance has fallen off it's anyone's guess what the new front office regime will ultimately decide to do with Escobar.
It's not too late to rule out another late season surge from Escobar, but at this point it certainly appears the franchises' instability at shortstop will continue. Over the past ten seasons the Twins have had nine different Opening Day shortstops.
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